Gedexus system
1207 local hour
Terran Federation Ship Light of Orion
Captain: Theobald Costa
5 years.
5 years, they said.
5 years in the Navy and he would have gotten a well-paid desk job on the Homeworld.
But in its infinite wisdom, the Ministry of Defense of the Terran Federation had decided to give him the command of a destroyer. His first assignment was alongside the Omnidex border, situated at 10 o'clock in the empire.
He sighed. That damned system the scientists had come up with was still hard to get used to. The Navy never told him north and south wouldn't matter in space when they hired him. They never told him he had to visualize a clock with its center in the middle of the galaxy and 12 o'clock being the line between the Homeworld and the middle of the galaxy.
But the weird scientific system was only one problem. The second was that this stupid destroyer didn't even have windows except on the bridge. Not that the Gedexus system had anything worth looking at, but he'd have still appreciated the possibility to see something else than the plasteel walls of the destroyer.
He had thought about quitting, going back to the Homeworld. But nowadays, people who left the military before retirement were seen as little better than deserters. He had to thank the Omnidex Systems for that. That rogue defense system had carved itself a decent piece of the galaxy, and it now seemed to have the Terran Federation in its sight. This was why his destroyer was stationed here. While it certainly didn't have enough firepower to stop any kind of invasion, handling the Omnidex corvette raids was well within its specifications.
"Captain Theobald Costa. Your presence is needed on bridge".
VIR's voice brought him back to reality. No matter how much he dreamed about another job, he remained the captain of a destroyer. As such, he had responsibilities. Like having to be on bridge when anything remotely important happened. He didn't like the bridge; he could tell the crew thought poorly of him. He couldn't blame them: he too would like to be someplace else.
He got up from his chair and tried to smooth out the wrinkles on his uniform a bit. It didn't exactly work, but it made him feel better. With that out of the way, he opened his door and left the bare-bone plasteel room that was his quarters. The corridors were surprisingly calm, which only added to his stress. At long last though, he reached his goal.
The bridge.
The only room in the ship with a view on the outside. The only room with more computers than personnel. It was located at the rear of the destroyer, not too far from the engines. The logic was to make it as hard as possible for enemy fighters to reach the bridge. It had a rectangular shape, with the screens positioned above and under the large reinforced glass panels. Its center was occupied by a holo-table, and the front was mostly made up of the crew's stations.
"Captain on deck!"
Those words, bellowed by his lieutenant, had the effect to wake up the unfortunate men and women on shift. Soon, they were all giving a military salute.
Motioning toward the crew to stop saluting, he stopped in front of the holo-table, used to give an accurate representation of whatever the hell was happening in the system. And to Costa's eyes, this particular hell looked like a whole lot of nothing.
"Lieutenant, I trust you didn't call me only to admire the beautiful scenery?"
"Sir, no sir. We spotted an Omnidex cruiser at 1213. It has remained stationary since then."
It was 1221 local hour, meaning the cruiser appeared 8 minutes ago. It wasn't too surprising it hadn't moved yet, but the lack of indication on the holo-table was bothering Costa.
"Then how comes the holo-table shows me nothing?"
"Eh…we think it has gone dark sir. We're currently using data from the Citadel to track its position."
Costa glanced at the center of the holo-table. Even at the scale of the solar system, the Citadel and its 9 battle stations commanded respect. It was a much bigger deterrent than a lone destroyer, and it was no coincidence that the system of Gedexus was the only way for the Omnidex to reach Terran space. Outfitted with a listening post, the Citadel was able to accurately map out what was happening in neighboring systems in real time. A vessel going dark may confuse ship sensors, but it stood no chance against the state-of-the-art sensors a listening post had.
"No additional data from Omnidex space?"
"No sir, as far as we can tell, it's alone and has no back-up standing by."
Weird. It was obvious the cruiser was a probe, here to map out the system. It wasn't the first time the Omnidex did that, but usually there always was a small raiding party waiting behind. Costa wasn't too keen on engaging that cruiser though. It had chosen its position well, just in front of the hyperlane leading back to Omnidex space, and outside of the Citadel's range. Any confrontation would see the cruiser have the upper hand, and Costa wasn't ready to die just yet.
"Keep monitoring the situation", he told his lieutenant. "And inform the fleet. No need to call them in for a single cruiser though."
He could see his lieutenant wasn't pleased. Leaving an Omnidex cruiser map the system unopposed wasn't exactly classic naval doctrine, but the destroyer couldn't win this battle without some serious miracle, nor could the Third Fleet be bothered to hunt a lone cruiser. That left him with no other option than to wait and see, something he had become quite talented at over the course of his short career in the Colonial Administration.
He sat in his chair, situated a bit behind the holo-table. Captain's privilege, they said. Can't waste time sitting if you're part of the crew. He had half of a mind to order a reduced shift. The Omnidex cruiser wasn't going to move anytime soon, and it wasn't as if an invasion fleet was suddenly going to pop up in the system.
And even if it did, the Third Fleet was still a few systems away. That and the Citadel. All this firepower made Costa more at ease than one should be in presence of Omnidex ships. No one could really tell what was going on among these bots' wires, but they weren't going to attack such a well defended area anytime soo…
His lieutenant interrupted his train of thoughts.
"Sir! The Citadel spotted enemy ships in the Kerensa system!"
So that cruiser did have reinforcements after all. Costa got up from his chair and began fiddling with the holo-table, trying to get a sector-wide view of the local hyperlanes. The Kerensa system was one of the 2 systems in Omnidex space leading to Gedexus. Usually though, raiding parties came from the other connected system, Korgas, which led to Tibbacor, sporting a heavily fortified Omnidex Citadel.
That they would come from Kerensa instead of Korgas wasn't unthinkable, but Costa's limited experience with the Omnidex had shown they would always pick the most efficient option available. To travel from Korgas to Gedexus only took 20 days, but to travel from Kerensa to Gedexus took a full month. So why in hell did they jump to Kerensa?
"Did the Citadel get their full signature?"
"No sir, they're still analyzing the info."
Costa wasn't stupid. He knew the Omnidex were aware of the Third Fleet lying in wait. But he also knew they weren't stupid enough to attack the Citadel with the Third Fleet right behind. Once again, he told himself he shouldn't have joined the navy. His mind was better suited to paperwork and a slow life, not to analyze fleet movements.
It struck him he didn't even have to do that. All he had to do was contact the Third Fleet with the full report from the Citadel and that was it. Problem solved. Good old Costa wouldn't have to waste additional braincells on the matter.
He heard his lieutenant call him. But more importantly, he saw his lieutenant's face. The fear in his eyes. The lack of blood in his face. The Citadel had completed its full report, and it wasn't good news.
"…Transmit it to the holo-table."
His lieutenant nodded quickly and pressed a few buttons on his station.
It didn't take long for Costa to make the same face as his lieutenant. On the holo-table was displayed an approximate 76 corvettes, 40 destroyers, 17 cruisers, 2 battleships and a ship of unknown signature. Clearly not just a raiding party as they had more ships than even the Third Fleet. If a battle was to take place, Costa did not know who would win, but he knew the losses would be atrocious on both sides.
He motioned at his lieutenant: "Contact the Third Fleet."
Not waiting for a response, he left the bridge, going straight back to his quarters.
God, he hated this job.