The Definitive SpaceFed Trilogy (SpaceFed StarShips Trilogy).: A thrilling, action-packed Sci-fi space adventure. (SpaceFed StarShips Series Book 8) Page 19
“Yes, we've done all we can do from here.”
“Anything else?” He could see the look of anticipation in their eyes
“Home it is then.”
Next day, the stealth drone was sent to picket the defunct wormhole’s last known location. Once there, it would reduce its power to operate at minimum power drain.
The coordinates, jump times and sync information for all their ships, plus, duration, and exit points were uploaded to each one.
The two intervals in Normal-space, between Jumps, would be about ten minutes each. Allowing time for the warp cores to recharge before the next jump.
The two ten-minute waits would also allow the ships to study the local area.
The two-minute warning sounded in everyone's transceiver implant.
By the time the ten-second warning sounded, everyone was tense and wondering what might be waiting for them when they arrived at the first exit.
Lighting dimmed and only the necessities to maintain human life remained. Warp field creation and entry occurred with a slight feeling of giddiness.
The next fourteen hours passed slowly, with everyone trying not to get bored as no contact with any other ship was possible during transit. Finally, the two minute, then ten second, exit-jump warnings sounded as Andromeda prepared for action, in case the Crillons were around.
She exited jump into Normal-space, her screens fully up, and weapons on auto alert as usual. Suddenly, stars were swirling as Andromeda adjusted her angle to re-align with Earth's position.
The Illustrious and Derringer then both dropped into Normal-space, each ship about one thousand meters apart from the other. There were no new contacts on the ships detectors.
“Good jumping, captains,” Frank congratulated them.
Both of their images appeared on his screen, as Derrick said, “Thanks, there weren’t any really huge stars Frank, so no unwanted gravitational pull to bend our trajectory.”
“Mm, it does help. We're doing a scan while we wait. Be ready in ten.”
“No problem Frank,” Crisp confirmed.
The second jump and exit were both as uneventful as the first.
Frank studied the coordinates given by Captain Patterson of the Illustrious, as the three ships readied for the final jump to Earth.
“Derrick are these correct?” he asked.
“Yes. It's because of the new shipping law. We now have to swing around Mars on the approach to Earth.”
“It'll be interesting to you to see it, Frank,” came Crisp's voice. “The orbital part of the Mars shipyard is massive now.”
“Why exit-jump so far out?” asked Frank. “That’s more than a hundred thousand kilometers from Mars.”
“Safety and verification, that's all.”
“Times up folks,” Derrick voiced. “Sound the two-minute signal. Links on.”
The two minute, then ten-second warnings sounded as all three ships prepared to jump. At zero, the wormholes formed, and the ships vanished into them.
Thirteen hours passed slowly. Very slowly indeed for the crews, who were becoming impatient to reach home.
Eventually, all three ships exited warp and into Normal-space. Each coming from their various wormholes and a thousand kilometres apart from each other. With their screens, halfway up, providing protection from small asteroids, and, any other space debris floating around.
Mars hung, reddish in color and more than a hundred thousand kilometres in front. Beyond, and to the left, they could see a tiny greenish-blue planet. Earth.
A cheer was heard over the crew’s transceiver implants. They were almost home again.
Frank tapped the general broadcast tab. “Not long now, we're nearly there. The Vista is on your screens now,” he said.
Then was suddenly interrupted by an incoming Priority-call.
“Hello Jack,” a surprised Frank said. As Jack Medcalf’s face appeared.
“Well done Frank.”
“Thanks. Can I assume we're not going on to Earth yet?”
“The crews are Frank. But, we need to service all three ships at the Mars orbital space docks.”
“But, the Illustrious and Derringer are up to date, aren’t they?”
“Not really. There's been an extensive research program going on since we found out about the Crillons,” he paused.
“Our scientists have come up with something new for travel at sub-light speeds, which they’ve called, a Skippa drive.
“Skippa? What a name to pick.”
“I know that it sounds a strange name to use… A bit like those Holographic skipping rings we use to play with when we were kids. Anyway, I'm not very technical, but apparently, the Skippa drive produces a series of very short warp-pulses that start to fold space, but not deep enough to create an actual wormhole.
Each pulse causes the ship to be drawn to the other side of the fold, or depression if you like, thus producing a short, ‘jump’ effect. This is then repeated in rapid succession until you arrive at your target location.”
“What, like the effect of a stone skimming across the top of water?”
“Exactly, Frank.”
“It sounds a bit like the old flywheel with a metal insert,” Frank replied. “I think that had a coil which, when energized, pulled the wheel as it passed, and hey, presto! The object the wheel was attached to moved forward with tiny movements.”
“That's going way back, Frank. There aren't any moving parts in the Skippa-drive.”
Jack gathered his thoughts and continued.
“So, with this new drive fitted, the ship won't need the photon drive. The Skippa-drive will only have a slight effect on warp-quota usage because the pulse is extremely short, and the warp core recharge time is only about a second.”
”Great,” Frank exclaimed. “So, no more photon-drives lighting up Space and depleting our precious resources. Right. I'd better inform everybody of the situation.”
The three ships approached the sprawling orbital space docks of Mars.
They could see all five building-cradles were now complete. Two of which each held a Starship nearing completion. While several small ships were busily scurrying back and forth between the docks and the surface.
When the three ships had come to a stop, close to the cradles, a big passenger ship drew up nearby. Then moved to the first starship, and took on its crew members via an extensive walkway that sealed the holding bay.
Once secured, the holding bay door opened, and the crew disembarked and went onto the passenger ship, taking their own luggage with them. The passenger ship then moved on to the next vessel, and then finally on to the Andromeda.
Frank tapped Susanna's tab, “Susanna, come to my cabin now, please.”
“Give me five.”
After what seemed an eternity, his door annunciator sounded. “Open,” he said, and Susanna waltzed happily in, the door sliding shut behind her.
“I thought we were meeting on Earth,” she said.
“We are darling, later. But for now, there are two things I want us to do together.”
“All right, shoot.”
“Jack,” Frank called.
Jack Medcalf's image appeared on the screen. “Hello Sues,” he said to his niece.
“Hello, Uncle Jack,” she answered in surprise. ”What’s going on?”
“We'll, Frank and I have been talking, and yes. I am delighted that you want to marry Frank, Sues.”
“Wow! That was smooth Jack,” exclaimed Frank.
“You're like a son to me, so why wouldn’t I wish it?”
“Well, that's one thing out of the way.”
“And the other Frank,” Jack queried.
“Well, four questions actually. One. How long for the refit? Two. Am I going out again with Andromeda? Three. The Navy threat? Four. What's going to happen to our mind-link during refit?”
“You don’t want to know much, do you?” Jack replied, looking as if he was deep in thought for a moment. Then said.
�
��OK. One. The refit will take about a month, plus another week for trials.
Two, the Crillons are still a risk, so yes you are going out with Andromeda again.
Three, the Navy threat is always in the background, Frank. And, your run in with these Crillons just puts more pressure on the Earth Federation to change their minds.
Four, the link must be severed before the refit.”
Frank thought he heard a gasp from Andromeda.
“Cut it now Frank, it’ll be better, in the long run,” said Andromeda.
“Best for whom? I’m sorry, Andromeda,” he said as he mentally gave the shutdown code.
An almost human-like cry of pain stabbed through his mind. Then, for a moment, he felt really alone. Except for Susanna's hand squeezing his tightly.
Chapter 32.
The Other Place.
Brendereen studied the minute dots in the sky. Slowly realising that, whatever they were, they weren’t from his planet.
They appeared to be in low orbit. However, nothing like this had ever happened before to his knowledge. Counting seven of them, he began to feel very nervous as one of the dots seemed to swell before his eyes. One of the objects was getting closer. And, if these dots were really spaceships, then they must be enormous.
“Bren,” his wife shouted, from the door of their metal cabin. “The military have already seen them. They’re sending scout ships to us!”
“Good!”
The dot, growing larger by the second, was now visible as a coppery-orange colored sort of object, with a black dot in the center.
It stopped about four thousand meters up and turned slowly, revealing its shape in full. It was a cylindrically shaped spaceship.
Brendereen continued watching as he waited for the scout ships to arrive. Far away to the left came a whining sound that rapidly became louder as the two scout ships hurtled towards him.
The cylindrical spaceship in the sky seemed to do nothing. But, suddenly, two tiny purple particle-beams shot out and hit the scout ships, which dissolved into puddles of molten metal, flying on through the air, then plunging into the ground.
Brendereen yelled in shock and started to run, as fast as his legs could take him, to their cabin. “Get inside,” he shouted to his wife.
Molten metal slammed into the ground somewhere behind him, sending showers of red-hot metal everywhere. An area of his ‘cabbage’ like plants flared into flame behind him, as he crashed through the open door. Slamming it shut, just in time to save them both from incineration.
The remnants of Fleet Twelve had found a new home. A home with manufacturing potential.
End of Book One.
Other SpaceFed books by this Author
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SpaceFed StarShips Trilogy
A Novel by Gerry A Saunders
Book Two
2nd Edition
Includes new material
Battle for Delta Pavonis.
Cover art By Gerry A. Saunders
© Copyright 2014 Gerry A. Saunders
No part of this publication can be copied, transmitted in any form, without the authorization in writing of the author.
Continuing the thrilling, action-packed Sci-fi space adventure series.
The StarShip Andromeda's last mission was cut short before they had been able to locate the Acarea, Earth’s first settler ship. The Acarea had been launched almost two hundred years earlier, before the faster than light barrier was broken by the newly invented warp drive.
During their search, the Andromeda and its crew had instead encountered the Crillons. An alien species which came from a planet orbiting the star Kepler more than six hundred light years from Earth.
The Crillons had come from their world via a natural wormhole. They were an aggressive species and hell bent on finding and destroying all other species to protect their own. However, a detachment of Crillon Battlecruisers, separated from the main Crillon’s fleet, were almost decimated during a fierce battle with the humans near Zeta Reticuli, some thirty-nine light-years from Earth.
At the time, the humans were unaware that seven of the Crillon’s Fleet 12 battlecruisers were absent from the battle at Reticuli. Now, they have learnt that Fleet 12 still exists but is presumed to be located elsewhere.
With this knowledge, the humans are forced to disrupt the Crillon’s natural wormhole. To ensure that, if they are even able to, the rest of Fleet 12 cannot travel through it, or be reinforced.
Later, knowing that the Crillons aren’t able to locate Earth, at least for the moment. The Andromeda, with the help of two new StarShips the Illustrious and Derringer, manage to return home to undergo a refit at the Mars spacedocks. But they leave, knowing that Fleet Twelve is somewhere and is still a threat.
In the meantime, Earth’s Space Federation believe that they’ve located the Crillons fleet. After an extensive warp-exit field is recorded in the Delta Pavonis star system twenty light years from Earth.
The Federation is sure that the Crillon’s Fleet 12 are continuing on their destructive course, which must mean that they have found a way to replenish their warp-drive crystals. If so, they are more dangerous than ever, since, with the natural wormhole collapsed, they are trapped and cannot return to their home planet.
The Federation now believes that the Crillons will eventually find Earth. The consequences of which would be dire.
Now, after Andromeda’s recent encounter with the Crillons, the Earth Federation was beginning to get jittery about continuing to restrict their military presence in space, to just a small contingent of space marines.
Never the less, everyone knew that Navy ranking had already been prepared for the new ships. And, that it was just a matter of time before the Earth’s Space Navy came into being.
However, putting their fears to one side, they devote all their resources to improving and increasing the fleet of StarShips. To send them back to Delta Pavonis to find and hopefully, destroy the remnants of Fleet Twelve.
DPav4 holds the key to the past and a frightening glimpse of the future, putting fear into both Crillon and Earth forces alike.
Will any of them survive?
Other SpaceFed books by this Author
SpaceFed StarShips Trilogy.
Book 1. Battles at Zeta Reticuli.
Book 2. Battle for Delta Pavonis.
Book 3. An Alliance at Kepler.
You can follow on with the story in these next books.
SpaceFed StarShips Series.
Book 4. Death of Time.
Book 5. Acarea. A Triumph or Disaster?
Book 6. The Garoden War. ‘Into the Fire.’
Book 7. The Garoden War. Pt 2. ‘Military Gamble.’
(Publishing Early 2017)
http://www.spacefedbooks.com
Contents
SpaceFed StarShips Trilogy
See more by this author
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
.
Prologue
Andromeda swung in a long arc towards the Crillon ship which was now
virtually in two parts and hung ominously over City Marca. Captain Richardson could see that almost the whole of the centre of the Crillon ship had disappeared.
Far away, two more flashes showed as the Andromeda’s fighting ships, the Illustrious and Turpin, engaged the other two Crillon ships.
Then, unexpectedly, another explosion and flash as the Turpin hit its target ship again after one of her torpedoes had misfired, hitting the aperture wall of the Crillons Antimatter weapon’s tube and detonating prematurely. So they had been obliged to fire particle beams at the front section to silence some weapons that were still active.
The Turpin and Illustrious then turned upwards to join the high orbit action.
The Andromeda continued her sweep, checking the drift of the three wrecks and saw that only City Vicrea's Crillon ship presented any risk at this moment.
Andromeda found and set the correct force-field frequency to resist a slow-moving object. Then increased the force-field to the maximum as she pushed the dangerous wreck further up and to one side. All the while fending off ineffective shots from the distant Crillons on the ground.
Andromeda then turned upwards to join the high orbit battle, knowing that the three cities would be safe for at least five days. With the wrecks, now in low orbit, taking at least this amount of time to drop through the atmosphere before plunging towards the planet.
The high orbit battle hadn't started well. The four Crillon Battlecruisers, their sensors in full operation, spotted some of the stealth drones as shimmers and destroyed them before they could fire their torpedoes.