Homeworld (Odyssey One) (47 page)

PRIMINAE WARSHIP
POSDAN

CAPTAIN KIAN SLUMPED into her station, eyes still refusing to believe what her screens were showing her. Around her the bridge was similarly subdued, no one speaking as they all stared at the screens.

She wanted nothing more than to ask everyone if what she had seen had actually happened.

From the looks of everyone else, they have the same question.

“What do we do, Captain?”

That is the question, isn’t it?
Kian wondered to herself, eyes flicking between the screens as she tried to work out what had happened, never mind what they were to do about it. “Does anyone have anything on their screens that looks like any enemy ships survived?”

“No, Captain. The area is clear.”

“What of the non-Drasin contacts? Were they in the system?”

“Unknown.”

Unknown. That means they weren’t. We’d have detected them if they were there. We had every system on the ships scanning those Drasin ships.

She sighed, grimacing, but made a choice. “Go to full power on all scanners. They’re probably hiding out here somewhere. Find them.”

“Yes, Captain.”

“And prepare to transmit a message to the
Odyssey
,” she said. “It’s somewhat late, but we may as well offer our greetings and share what we’ve been able to tell from tracking these ships.”

Her crew went to work, leaving her to compose the message that she would send. She didn’t have to think about it too hard. She supposed it would just be a bare greeting unless they found the unidentified ships they had been tracking. Kian figured that it would be prudent to enter the Terran system.

She knew that they wanted to keep the knowledge of their star’s location hidden, but it was quite clear that was a lost cause, so she hoped that they weren’t too put out by a pair of Priminae warships paying a short visit.

It’s not like they have any cause to fear us, not if they can do
that
to a Drasin flotilla.

N.A.C.S.
ODYSSEY
, ON STATION INSIDE SATURN’S ORBIT

“ALL TARGETS CONFIRMED eliminated, Captain.”

“Compile the observed data with the computer predictions,” Eric said, walking across the bridge to glance over Winger’s shoulder. “I want to know everything that didn’t go according to computer predictions and why. Some of those ships took as many as three or even four shots to get a coherent shell on target. The more we can tighten that number, the better. We don’t have unlimited munitions for the big guns.”

“Aye, sir. I’ll get it done,” she said, frowning as a signal chimed on her station.

“Something, Lieutenant?”

“Yes, sir.” Winger nodded. “It looks like a pair of ships just went active in the outer system. They must have been coming in fast from the look of their orbital trajectory.”

“Our mystery trigger men?” Eric asked, now leaning over her shoulder to get a better look.

“Hard to say, sir.” she admitted, running the signals through her systems with a practiced hand. “It matches Priminae signals so far.”

“We’ve seen a lot of that out of them.”

“Yes sir. Hang on…incoming transmission,” Michelle said. “It’s modulated…compatible with our systems, directional, and in the clear…It’s the
Posdan
, sir.”

Eric straightened up, surprised by the revelation.

He supposed that he shouldn’t be, though. They were tracking the alien ships just as the
Odyssey
had been tracking the
Weifang
.

All roads lead to Rome.

“Open a channel, same signal encoding.”

“Channel opened, sir.”

“Captain Kian, I and the crew of the
Odyssey
welcome you to Earth,” Eric said. “Please feel free to enter the system. We promise safe passage and hope you enjoy the visit.”

Michelle keyed a command in and nodded, “Encoded and sent, Captain.”

“Good. Let me know if they answer or head our way,” Eric said. “But in the meantime, get the data on the battle run through the computer. We need it done yesterday.”

“Aye, aye, sir.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Earth Orbit

THE TWO GIANT Priminae vessels resting in high orbit practically eclipsed the space station they were pacing, providing ample evidence to anyone with even basic observational capability from the surface that something dramatic had changed in the history of the planet. Most people even remotely in the know were already aware of that; the
Odyssey
’s battle in the outer system hadn’t been something on which even the Confederate government could put a total hush.