Talosian Chronicles 2: Star Dancer (31 page)

“Command this is tracking, we are showing emergence on the inbound. Event should be in the vicinity of Jupiter orbit, far side,” Hyperspace tracking said over the comm. Ian noticed that the person sounded a lot older this time.

“Aye, we have a hyperspace event in that location. It looks like the big bastard decided to drop out a bit further away than we guessed,” Chekov said. “Hyper-track, this is Navigation, we got it from here, thanks,” Chekov replied.

“Roger, target is yours. Blow it to hell, guys.”

“Stay calm everyone, they haven’t done anything yet,” Ian ordered.

“Confirmed one Caldarian Super Nova class star ship is in system. Target is proceeding deeper into the gravity well and is decelerating. Current course and deceleration profile indicates parking orbit vicinity of the planet Venus,” Chekov reported.

An image of the ship, transmitted by one of the small sensors dropped weeks ago by the Centurions, was placed on the big monitor.

“Holy shit! That is one big honkin’ ship!” Jenny said softly.

“Yes it is. Is it me, or does that thing look bigger in person?” Ian asked, rhetorically.

“Operations, I am showing life signs in the atrium, please make sure it’s evacuated,” Star said out loud.

“Sir, hostile is launching carriers and doing full, active, sensor sweeps of the system,” Chekov said.

“Those assholes are certainly sure of themselves!” Jenny said.

“Keep a track on those carriers, I want to know where they’re going and what they’re doing. Remain silent in all systems. All drones to remain in low power mode for the time being,” Ian ordered. “Let’s see what they’re up to before we start something.”

“Sir, six hostile fighter-carriers are heading away from the Super Nova. It appears they are going to do a system patrol. They are staying in pairs. One pair is falling behind the bigger ship, and the other two sets are under full burn for adjacent solar quadrants,” Chekov reported. “I would assume the last quadrant, ours, will be launched when they get here.”

“Thanks Chekov, please keep an eye on them,” Ian asked as the tactical hologram and battle boards added the carriers as active assets.

Jenny smiled. “Engineering has reactivated tube thirty-one portside. They report it was a software glitch, and it has been repaired.”

“Thank you, please tell them good work,” Ian said, nodding. “What is that big fucker waiting for? If she knew we were here, she would have come barreling in here, guns blazing. This seems a very cautious approach.”

“You are correct, Commander,” Star replied. “If the goal were to take the planet, then they would be assuming an Earth orbit in order to use ship-board assets in the assault. This is very cautious for a Caldarian.”

“Colonel, get ground ops, space ops, and intel in the combat conference room. Star, could you make sure they have the assets they will need to analyze this situation? If we had the time, I’d replace the table in there with a holo-tank, and turn it into a CIC,” Ian ordered.

Star nodded. “Dispatching maintenance drones. I will rebuild the room while they’re using it, Sir. It’ll be slow going, but it shouldn’t be hard to do. The conference room is close enough to the bridge systems that a tie-in is possible without reworking any major systems.”

“Sir, Chloe said she would take charge of it, and Intel agreed with her. They are putting together permanent teams for this. Chloe further suggested we simply move her department there, since most of the equipment is the same,” Jenny replied.

Ian shook his head. “No, it isn’t permanent. Tell her we will have a meeting about it after the current situation is taken care of. This is simply a stop-gap fix to a major problem in Talosian design. Chekov, E.T.A. until the Super Nova reaches her parking place?”

“Current course and speed will put her in position in six hours, thirty-one minutes. She is still moving pretty fast Sir,” Chekov replied.

“Combat teams stand down to Orange-Two alert status. Command teams remain at Yellow-One. Night watch go get some sleep, if you can,” Ian ordered. “Get some breakfast everyone.”

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T
alos, New Mexico

Earth, Sol Sector

Combat location:
Eden

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L
uke let out a sigh. “So, the ship has arrived, it’s still a few hours away from attack position, and we can take a breath and make any last preparations. I can live with that.”

“Yes Sir, but I can’t think of anything else to do. We’re as secure as I think we can make ourselves. That’s not to say we’re as safe as can be, but I think we’re as safe as we can make it for now,” Ty said.

“What about the civilians? Do we get them into the shelters now, or do we wait?” Elias asked. “I’d hate to just sit on my hands and have people get hurt or worse, when we could have gotten everyone to safety.”

“I agree, but right now we still have to maintain the show for our guests outside the gate. So, for now, keep everyone doing their normal routines. We also don’t want anyone to panic, so we can’t announce the ships arrival yet,” Luke said. “Is that Colonel still content out there?”

“I believe he is Sir, DARPA is notorious for not letting anyone know what they are doing. They won’t tell the Marines I’m not an agent. I honestly believe that even they don’t know exactly what all of their agents are doing. I don’t think the Marines will leave any time soon, but I don’t think they’ll hassle us either,” Alan replied.

“Amazing, you’d think once they found out that one of ‘their’’ projects was being run out here, they would send more agents in to assist,” Elias said.

“Nope, that’s the reason for the name I gave the Colonel. It’s obviously one of the fake agent names they all use. The simple fact that I used that name will tell the upper command structures that DARPA won’t give them anything.”

“I’m not worried about the powers that be finding out we lied to them, so much as I’m worried about what will happen to those troops if we get attacked. Those Marines don’t stand a chance, and we can’t bring them in here to protect them,” Ty said. “Sir, with your permission, I’d like to replicate a few crates of man-portable mass drivers and have them stacked near the front gate. If we get attacked, at least we can give them a weapon that will stand a chance of making a difference. We can always set them to self-destruct after the battle.” Ty asked.

“What do we tell them once the battle is over, and we destroy the weapons? That they had just been fighting with figments of their imaginations?” Luke asked.

“Sir, with respect, if we get attacked by aliens, I would think explaining where those weapons came from would be the least of our worries. We’re going to have investigators from every agency you can think of, and a couple that you can’t, crawling all over themselves to get into this compound. Everyone on the planet will want to know why some tiny-assed corporate township was attacked by aliens when nowhere else on the planet was,” Ty asked.

“Who’s to say we’ll be the only ones they attack? I was led to believe that ship is capable of an entire planetary assault?” Luke asked.

“They are capable of planetary bombardment and suppression, but not invasion. They simply don’t have the millions of ground troops they would need for that. If they attack this planet, they might hit a few of the other cities, but we will be singled out for a ground attack. That much I can guarantee you,” Ty said.

Alan nodded. “I’m afraid I have to agree with Ty, Governor. Having those weapons available for the Marines will make little difference in the grand scheme of things. I have already primed the Colonel for this attack, although I doubt he actually believes me.”

“Okay, make up the weapons, Ty. But if Ian has an issue with this, you two are going to have to explain it to him, this is a military matter, and he is your ultimate commander in this,” Luke said.

Ty smiled, “Thank you Sir. You have no idea how much this eases my mind. I may not be a part of them anymore, but I still don’t want to see any of them hurt if I could have done something about it.”

“I can very much understand your concern for them, Ty. I share it, but I also cannot allow any breach of security here, so I better not see even one uniform with ‘U.S. Marines’ on it inside the gate. Do I make myself clear?”

Both Alan and Ty nodded. “Yes Sir!”

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F
.S.S.
Star Dancer

Selene (Earth’s moon) Orbit

Sol Sector.

Combat location:
Dark Palace

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I
an had checked on the progress of the new ‘CIC’ being built in his conference room. He was surprised at not only the progress of the drones, but of the people that had come here to work. It was almost like they had been waiting for a place to be made for this purpose. Chloe grinned at him when he entered and came over to him.

“Right bloody good idea this was. It’s a wonder no one thought of it sooner,” she said.

“Actually, I did, I planned on having something like this included in upgrades after we get through this. Star and I have plans for a good portion of the ship. I’m going to be adding an operations and flight section to the bridge crew. It should make things a lot more efficient,” Ian replied, looking around.

Chloe nodded. “Aye, this’ll help a lot too. Having Intel in with us will make things flow better also. We’ll be able to get more information to you faster, while increasing our ability to respond to it.”

Ian nodded in agreement. "That’s the plan. I’m going to be adding another bridge set-up as well, in case the main bridge gets disabled. If you are going to need more people, you should probably think about getting a list made up for the Personnel Department to act on.”

Chloe nodded and made a note to herself on the tablet she carried with her. “So you’re adding a bridge station for operations, as well as a secondary bridge. Are you going to be making a secondary CIC then, too?”

“I don’t know,” Ian answered honestly. “I suppose it’ll depend on the need, and available space for it. This area is not going to be your permanent home. It’ll get moved when we rebuild the bridge section.”

Again, she nodded. “When you do that, you should see if you can move the bridge into a less vulnerable position. Of course, with all the computers and electronics being up here in the bow, that might not be feasible.”

“No, not in this ship, but it’s something to keep in mind for the next one we build,” Ian grinned at her shocked look and winked at her. “Look, one of the things that I wanted you to look into is the fact that the assholes out there are not acting like normal Caldarians, at least, the ones we have records on. I want you and the intel people to study this, and try to tell me what their game is, so we can stop them.”

“Yeah, Jenny briefed us before we moved up here. She also sent us all the information you folks have. Once the big tank gets set up, we’ll have all the information you have as soon as you have it, with luck, we’ll actually have a little bit more.”

“Sir, why not simply combine the CIC and the bridge? Yes, it’ll be larger, and busier, but everything will be right there for you,” Chloe asked.

“Because it’ll be larger and busier. Too much noise and confusion in one place. It would be too easy to confuse orders, and miss them entirely. Those are mistakes we can’t afford,” Ian replied.

Chloe nodded. “I understand that Sir, and that’s the primary reason they aren’t set-up that way in a wet navy, but we have sound dampening, and certain technologies that can make this work. After we get through this, I’ll draw up a plan for you to look over before everything gets set in stone if that’s alright?”

“I’ll take all the suggestions I can get Chloe, you should know that by now. Look, I’m gonna go grab a bite to eat before those bastards get into attack range. Holler if you need anything,” Ian said. When she nodded, he left the very busy room for his ready room and Jenny.

When he entered the room, Jenny smiled at him, and pointed to a plate she had for him at one end of the small conference table.  As he sat down, she swallowed the bite she had been chewing. “The Caldarian carriers have deployed fighters for short run patrols. So far, there’s been no surprises. The fighters match the designs we have on file. However, one set of carriers got close enough for one of our sensor drones to get a good look at them.

“The carriers are not identical. One of them is the standard model used by the Caldarians, and the fighters it has launched have been the only ones we’ve seen. The other carrier, looks more like a torpedo boat of some kind. At first, we thought it might be a small missile cruiser, but have since discarded that because of its size.” As she spoke, she brought up the strange carrier on his large monitor.

Openings along the side, in a line starting a short distance from the bow, and running all the way back to an area that could be called the engine room. In the display, these small openings were circled.

“This is the reason we at first thought it might be a missile boat. These openings, are too small for the standard Caldarian fighters, however, they are angled back into the ship like missile tubes would be. The sensor drone detected a high amount of magnetic flux from them. Maybe it’s new weapon type?” Jenny finished and took another bite of her food.

Ian studies the image as he started eating. After a couple of bites, he shrugged. “A new carrier for a new type of fighter craft. We have no idea how long the war continued after the Talosians were killed. There has been plenty of time for new weapons development.”

“A new fighter?” Jenny asked. “It would have to be awfully small in order to be launched through one of those tubes. The tubes themselves are only eight to nine feet tall. Yes, a Caldarian could fit in there, but once you wrap a ship around them, especially a fighter... I just can’t see it.”

“Something that small would be a bitch to hit wouldn’t it?” Ian asked.

“Yeah, it would, but Caldarians usually don’t do ‘small’. They are always about more; more power, more weapons, more planets; more, more, more,” Jenny replied.

“Yes, they usually are, but then again, these are not acting like normal Caldarians,” Ian pointed out. “Take a normal Caldarian missile, they’re about that big,” he nodded toward the screen. “Remove the warhead, put in a cockpit, and strap some weapons in it. Give it a slightly more efficient engine as well as a better way to maneuver, and what would you have?”