Author's note: I prepared so many excuses, but then thought about it a little more and decided to make it short instead. Not enough time, the flu, work, work, blah, and blah... you get the idea, right? Well, still. A new chapter is out and I think the next one won't be so far behind. Still, I suggest to my faithful readers to read this chapter very slowly and to enjoy every sentence. No way I'm able to publish each week a new chapter, so...
Q&A:
Random Norwegian: Before answering, just so you know, I would readily reply through PM if you used your account. ;) Now, let me answer your inquiries.
No, for now, the Terrans are not planning to introduce any other type of ship class. With the Wraith technology that allows them to store a lot of various materials without the need for more space, as well as the ability to swap types of weapons, there is no real need to make larger ships that will inevitably lose when it comes to mobility. Also, ships need to be able to go through the supergate, so no massive ships, sorry :(
Further upgrade of ships is possible depending on how the war will progress.
Well, they are more or less equal when it comes to overall strength of their Navies among the three races. The Terrrans have more people to recruit, so they have more options. However, with high tech, such a problem can be somewhat mitigated.
Be assured, ships will have all the people needed for completing their mission.
If they want to show a more aggressive ship, then they'll send the battlecruiser instead. No brainer here.
bloodredmoon22: Hmm, why indeed. Well, even quantum entanglement must send data through some kind of transfer medium in order for communication to be established, and since we are talking about communication faster than light, who's to say that the aforementioned transfer medium that allows for quantum entanglement to work isn't subspace, right? I don't know of any other that would fit, so...
So, not sure if I wanted to introduce it. By the way, the idea was for the SGA to have some troubles because of the disruption of subspace, and not for a quick solution to return the situation back to how it was. This also means that the Vargas cannot so easily find a solution either, which is a good thing. ;)
Chloe: Both light and radio waves are forms of electromagnetic (EM) radiation. The only difference is in their wavelength. Light goes from 400 to 700 nanometers. Radio waves go from 1 millimeter up to a 100 kilometers! However, the propagation speed is the same for both, which is the speed of light. To reach the hyper limit that is 2 hours from Earth, it would take for both signals, light and radio signals, 2 hours. No way to go do it faster, unfortunately. If we don't use some sci-fi explanation, like subspace or tachyons or something like that, we are stuck with the speed of light as the top speed.
Thanks to my beta, and happy reading!
It was different than anything she had seen thus far. And she had seen a lot of things since Earth had joined with the stars. She had toured through almost every conceivable type of Terran installation after it had been built, at least once, as well as all of the innumerable warship classes in the Terran ever growing Navy. She wasn't able to board one of the new Battlecruisers, though - the pride and joy of the TSN – but she didn't think a tour of that specific ship would have left her any more impressed than after her visit to the heavy cruiser Damocles. After the visit, she had left with a big smile on her face. It was clearly a complete shift from previously built ships. The Prometheus and the Daedalus were, at the time of their inception, marvels that had miraculously propelled Earth to the stars by freeing them from the shackles of the Stargate. Indeed, a marvelous device indeed. However, it still had its limitations.
Yet, the previous ships had felt somewhat… retro.
When touring those ships, there was a clear feeling of Earth having gained access to some advanced alien tech that propelled them forward in order to reach the stars, yet most of the ship was still made with antiquated equipment, like old-style controls and displays that you'd rather think of finding onboard Sputnik than on an intergalactic warship.
Then, the Damocles was built. A ship that finally utilizes all that the Terrans had learned in the past ten years while perusing through the various databases and combining the acquired knowledge with an infinite amount of imagination the engineers and scientists put tirelessly in the creation of the prototype. It was a marvelous ship, from the outside and the inside, and her personal evaluation of its strengths had little to do with its military might. As a diplomat, she wasn't very interested in that particular aspect, to begin with. Still, even then she knew the ship's primary role was that of a warship. For one, the rooms - no matter if it were the bridge, some other utility room, or private quarters - were all small, very small. It was as if the creators were squeezing every inch of available space to add something that would make the ship more powerful. It was the right thing to do when building a ship of war, she knew that. When you're building a ship of war, you are not allowed to make halfhearted decisions. The ship needs to be powerful, even though the crew might have smaller rooms or the bridge, engine room, or sickbay weren't as spacious as someone would like them to be. Although, if a certain captain who had served on a submarine for ten years was asked what he thought, he would tell you how wasteful the creators had been while making the Damocles' prototype, followed by a few unsolicited pieces of advice on how to squeeze a few more cubic meters here and there. After all, to such a person such as a submarine captain, walking through a corridor much wider than a meter was almost unthinkable when the goal was to use as much space as possible.
Then, the Illustrious came.
The Illustrious was once again a new evolution in Terran shipbuilding paradigm. The ship was truly spacious, so much so that the corridors could be traversed by five people standing side by side comfortably. Rooms for the crew were large, comfortable, and exquisitely designed – the work of a truly qualified internal decorator, she was sure of it even at first glance - and yet, even so, there were enough of them for most crew members to have their own room, with no sharing needed. Something that prior to this light cruiser was only available for the captain and a few other people. The internal design was of a higher standard compared with the heavy cruiser, just as it was the case when comparing the Damocles and the Daedalus. There was simply more the Illustrious had to boast about while compared with the Damocles, a ship that, to her, now gave off a bit of a Spartan feel. Panels, holographic emitters, transportation booths, doors that would open quickly without even letting out a hiss, everywhere she looked she found something placed there as if the designers did not want to leave too many empty places hence making the ship looking plain. In short, the ship was marvelous and it was meant to be clearly displayed that way for everyone coming onboard to see.
"This ship is truly something else," Weir said while walking next to its Captain, James Warren, and looking everywhere around. They were now just in the process of touring Engineering, the last place on the ship of great importance she was being shown today.
"Yes, for someone who spent ten years in the Royal Navy living inside a submarine, having so much space in the engine room… it feels so wasteful!" the Captain replied. It almost appeared as if he was feeling uncomfortable standing in such an open space.
Her estimate was that Engineering was near the size of a football field. On the back were two massive hyperdrives taking a lot of that space. There were two because the Terran policy was to always have redundancy in their systems, therefore having only one hyperdrive would be bad, apparently. Then, there was a transparent wall that separated these two engines from the rest of Engineering at which point two massive Pulse Reactors were only partially visible, with the rest disappearing in the right end left walls. In the middle, there were countless consoles and a buzz of people doing things she didn't understand or cared for all that much. Of course, she wasn't currently on that lower floor. Instead, she was standing on the Engineering's observation deck located exactly above the main entrance to Engineering. Like that, she was having a nice bird view of the whole room. Engineering was also at the very least 15 meters tall, if not more.
"It does somehow look empty. Was this much space really necessary?" she asked.
"Didn't you see manufacturing?" the Captain asked instead as if complaining.
"Ugh, you're right. Compared to that place, this one looks small and filled with equipment. Was it planned to have Manufacturing capable of building new ships there or what?" She said jokingly.
"Actually, that's exactly what the planners thought when they made the plans. It was envisioned for the Illustrious to be able to build ships the size of a Corvette without interfering with normal ship's operations in the adjacent Hangar Bay," the Captain responded.
Building a ship that was almost 30 meters in length onboard another ship wasn't easy. Then the room also had to be connected to the Hangar Bay, with doors big enough for the newly built or repaired ship to easily be transferred there. And yet, even during the process of building such a large craft, Manufacturing needed to be able to build other things at full capacity. As long as the ship had the needed raw materials and energy reserves, they were able to build everything and anything the ship could possibly need during their long journey.
"A ship fully capable to comfortably live on even during the longest of missions while far, far away from home. That's what O'Neill told me about this ship."
"That's correct. As long as we don't run out of juice, we can live on this ship in complete comfort, with a Lounge Bar, holo-rooms, rooms where to exercise, and private rooms in which even entire families could live comfortably."
"Not that we have any families onboard, right?" Weir asked. She didn't feel comfortable having children on a mission that was taking them hundreds of millions of light years away from home.
"No, there are no children onboard, but we do have a few married couples," the captain said while pointing with his chin towards a certain individual on the lower floor. "Our chief engineer Chekov over there is one of them. She's going on this mission together with her husband. Apparently, the husband simply said - You're not going alone, and that's final! He then quickly switched from being a Lt. in the Marine Corps and joined the Navy. He is now one of our best security officers, as well as a very promising tactical officer in training. He scored the highest score in our last simulation with 92% of hostile ships destroyed inside the allotted time, yet he was also smart enough to urge retreat at the right time when the ship's shields and hull began reaching dangerous levels. He's not just some trigger happy guy who's good at it."
"He beat the score of the senior tactical officer?"
"That he did, which ticked off our STO greatly. She spent the next five days in the sim room until she managed to score a slightly better score."
"Well, with such crewmembers it seems our safety is assured," Weir replied.
"No need to worry about that. Both the crew and the ship are top notch. I also think of myself as a very moderate Captain. I'm fully aware that this is a diplomatic mission and that engagements are to be avoided if possible."
"I'm glad to hear that. Especially since this ship isn't on par with other Terran military ships."
"That is true, Dr. Weir. This ship isn't as powerful as the Damocles or much less as the Armageddon. However, you're wrong if you think that this ship isn't a warship through-and-through. You must understand that except for facing an enemy the likes of the Vargas, this ship can hold its own in a battle. Even though it looks luxurious, this ship is many times more powerful than a ship like the old Daedalus. There's simply no comparison between the two ships."
"Yes, I was informed by our High Councilor. However, this ship is also new and has never been in any serious situation, has it?"
"I can concede to that point. However, everything on this ship has thoroughly been tested on other ships before being installed. We had also performed enough simulations and mock battles against other TSN ships to make sure that this ship's fully ready. I assure you that all major systems had been stress tested to their limits in order to make sure everything is ready before we venture into our long-term mission."
"All right, you convinced me, Captain," Weir said, just as the Captain was letting her exit the room first. "And with this, the tour is over I believe?"
"Well, if you're not interested in crawling through some secondary conduits, then there's nothing else of any interest that I can show you," the Captain replied with a smirk.
"No, thank you! Three hours of wandering around the ship were more than enough for me," she said while declining the offer with a pleading smile. Enough was enough.
"Good! Then let's go to the bridge and see where we are at."
The teleportation booth was just in front of Engineering. They both stepped inside it and were immediately taken to a different floor. Just a short walk from there and the doors leading onto the main bridge spread open while making almost no sound. Inside, Weir could see the various consoles. Most of them were facing the front where a massive display was covering the entire front wall and was currently showing the emptiness of space. There, the pilot and the navigational officer were seated behind the front two consoles. Behind them, there were three seats for the Captain, first officer, and for her as the mission's leader. Facing the left wall, there was a console used by the sensors officer and another one next to it for the science officer. On the opposite side of the bridge, there were two more consoles for tactical and damage control. On the back of the bridge was the strategic room - usually used by an admiral and their staff - as well as another, smaller room where the Captain and the rest of the bridge officers could dine without the need to leave the bridge. Of course, not all seats needed to be filled all the time, but since the ship had just begun its first mission, they were all eagerly present.
"Where are we at, XO?" the Captain asked while approaching his seat.
"Five more minutes and I would have called you, Captain," the XO, Jerrold Przemo, replied. "We are on final approach with Sol's Jump Station.
"Oh, that's great timing. Our esteemed leader here hasn't yet seen or used the jump station, has she?" the Captain responded while looking at her.
Weir was just in the middle of sitting down. "From that, I gather that you have, Captain?"
"We all did. During the ship's shakedown cruise."
"How does it feel?" she inquired. She wasn't certain that she liked the various stories depicting the feeling people felt during a jump. Even for short jumps, those of less than a hundred light years that could be accomplished with the ship's small jump drive, even for those they said there was some queasiness felt. For longer jumps done with the help of a Jump Station that sent the ship tens of thousands of light years away, the feeling apparently was even more pronounced.
And she really didn't want to vomit on her first day as the mission's leader. It would be mortifying.
"Nothing to worry. It is a little uncomfortable for a moment but nothing you can't handle, Dr. Weir, I'm certain of it," the Captain reassured her with a confident smile.
"Captain, the station has received our initial handshake. All is green. Our request for a jump has been acknowledged and the station has initiated the jump procedure. Five minutes until the station is ready to assist us. Since we are the only ship in the queue, the station will wait for our signal to initiate the jump," the ship's astrogator, Jill J. Taylor, instructed.
The level of cultural and ethnical diversity on the bridge was impressive. The Captain, James Warren was a Brit. The XO, Jerrold Przemo, was a Polish man of strong build, 6' 3" and 191 lbs., and only 28 years of age. The astrogator was a 29 years old petite woman named Jill J. Taylor, British nationality just like the Captain. But then, there was also Seiko Nishigaya, a Japanese woman of only 23 years of age and already the senior science officer on the ship. The pilot was called Guy Craig, a Scott with only 21 years behind him. He was no more than 5' 8" in height and around 150 pounds. A small guy, but they all say that he has incredible reflexes. Something very good when you're the ship's number one pilot and apparently the only one onboard who was participating in the Psionics program. His specialty was foresight. Nicole Carvalho, sensors and communication officer, 29 years old, Brazilian. Rupert S. Beeler, damage control, Australian and Libby Muir, senior tactical officer, 31 years old, also Scottish like the pilot, were the last two people that formed the A-Team on the bridge. Of course, there were many other nationalities present in the rest of the crew, and she liked to think how this was truly a Terran crew instead of a crew predominantly comprised by people from one single Earth nation. And since this crew had already spent a few months together, she wasn't worried about them not being able to perform their duties together with anything less than top marks.
"Take position at the designated slot, and wait for the station to fully charge," the Captain responded.
"Aye, sir," the pilot, Craig promptly responded.
It was incredibly convenient to have the Jump Station. Even with their fast hyperdrives, it would still take them hours to reach the location of the supergate. Instead, the jump station would instantly toss them in front of it. "Are we going to dial the supergate right after we get there or?"
"Our escort is already waiting for us in front of the supergate. There's no reason for us to delay our departure from the Milky Way galaxy, is there?" the Captain answered.
That was certainly true. The Sphere had left more than fifteen days ago and had already laid a supergate inside the central galaxy of the Aklarian Dominion, a galaxy distanced from here more or less 233 million light-years. It was named G233-S0-4, with the first number showing the approximate distance from the Milky Way galaxy. The letter 'S' meant that it was a spherical galaxy and '0' a subtype. The number '4' was there because it's the fourth galaxy that had been classified at the same distance of 233 million light years, just in a different direction.
So, even though the distances involved were mindboggling and difficult to truly grasp, it took very little to jump to where the supergate was and then reach the destination through it. Actually, the most time-consuming portion of the voyage was traveling from Earth to the hyper limit, which normally took half a day at cruising speed.
"Station is charged and ready," the pilot responded. "Engaging assisted jump in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… Jumping!"
The sensation wasn't as bad as she'd initially feared. There was some discomfort present - that was true. The sensation of weightlessness accompanied by a slight feeling of being squeezed through a too small tube for comfort. However, it had also lasted a mere second at the most before the sensation stopped, with the frontal display suddenly showing the supergate floating in front of a black hole. It was amazing to think that today the sight of a black hole wasn't a breathtaking spectacle anymore. Yet, a decade ago no one from Earth could have ever imagined seeing such a sight during their lifetime.
"Helm, plot course for the supergate and be ready to dial," the Captain ordered.
The ship steadied its course and slowly pushed forward. Of course, there was no sensation to be sensed onboard. It was only the fact that the supergate was steadily increasing in size that she knew they were moving forward.
"Sir, our escort and light support ship are acknowledging our arrival and are asking to join us," Nicole Carvalho, the sensors officer informed.
"Granted," the Captain responded. "Initiate Battlenet with the other ships in the fleet."
When more than one ship is present and they form a formation, the Battlenet is a system designed to instantly share data between them. This way all the helms would receive the trajectories of the other ships, while the communication and sensor officer would share other data related to issuing commands in the hierarchy, receiving important notifications, and sharing sensors data from all ships. This was incredibly valuable since the sensors of the Illustrious were an order of magnitude more precise than those of the three Defiants that have just joined the fleet. Much less the sensors of the lonely support ship whose only role was to perform repairs or mine for needed materials during long-term missions.
"The three Defiants and the Builder ship have joined the fleet. Battlenet is now fully active," Carvahlo responded.
The Captain waited for a moment as if to think if there was something else they needed to do before departing. "Well then. I think it is time to leave the Milky Way galaxy. Dial the gate, Lieutenant Nishigaya. Let us go meet the Aklarians."
It took no time at all, probably because the science officer had long ago created a macro to dial the supergate the moment the captain would order it. Piece by piece, the supergate began cracking with energy. When the last one was finally charged, the massive gate through which even large capital ships could pass began forming the watery-like surface of the event horizon. The following explosion was as spectacular as ever.
"Captain, the gate is open. We are now on final approach," Carvahlo stated.
"Sir, I suggest to switch to formation Epsilon, and to raise readiness condition to condition three," the tactical officer, Rupert S. Beeler, informed as per procedure.
Condition 5 was when the ship was in full standby. It meant that the ship had all of its major systems shut down. This was the condition usually used when a ship was docked. Condition 4 was when the ship traveled normally through space. In order to maximize energy consumption efficiency and increased durability of the used components, shields were kept at a low 20 percent and the powerful main energy capacitors were charged at only 60% of their nominal sustainable amount. Of course, the weapons were also shut down and the crew wasn't under any special order or need for heightened alertness. Condition 3 was when they were about to enter a zone they did not believe would be dangerous, but still, caution was welcomed. As such, the shields were put to a 100% and the various capacitors were slowly raised to their 100% capacity. Still, the crew was under no obligation to stop doing what they were doing and run to their battle stations. Condition 2 was when the crew needed to be ready for battle and all system were readied at above 100% – the main capacitors were overcharged at 150 or 200%, depending on the ship's capabilities and sensors were fully active and scanning the surrounding - yet, the weapons were still kept silent. Condition 1 was full alert, all systems were put into overdrive, weapons hot and ready to do whatever, whenever, and all crew members were to return on active duty no matter if it were their shift or if it wasn't.
The Epsilon formation was a standard formation in which the escort ships would surround the main ship - or ships - with at least one ship scouting ahead. In this instance, with only three escort ships available, one was sent flying through the gate, the second ship was standing in front of the Illustrious, 15 degrees starboard and 15 degrees below, and the last Defiant was standing behind the support ship, 15 degrees on the port side and 15 degrees above. With such a formation, both the escorts and the main ships had the chance of firing at an enemy without getting each other in the way and it would be easy to split or change formation as needed.
Weir had to learn this and many other things so that she would know immediately what was being said on the bridge. It was because she, as the leader of the mission, would have the right to ask for explanations from the Captain whenever she needed it and the Captain would be obligated to answer her per command protocol. However, asking such things in crucial moments could distract the captain and the crew from whatever they were doing at the moment. And that was something she shouldn't do. She shouldn't become a burden on the bridge.
"Proceed, Commander," the Captain responded simply.
Only moments later, a single Defiant sped faster than the rest of the fleet and not even a minute later it disappeared inside the event horizon as the first to go through.
"Defiant One is responding with, 'the coast is clear', sir," Carvahlo responded not even a minute later.
"Helm, proceed through the supergate."
"Aye, sir."
The event horizon was steadily getting closer and closer until it was the only thing the frontal display could display. A second more and then they were through. In a blink of an eye, they had crossed 233 million light years. She was having trouble believing it. She also had trouble believing the same thing the day when she had traveled 3 million light years to the Pegasus galaxy for the first time, but now it was almost a hundred times that distance. If they had a telescope powerful enough to look back at Earth from this distant galaxy, they would see an Earth that had dinosaurs crawling on it because it would be showing images of Earth from 233 million years ago. Of course, such a powerful telescope did not exist and she doubted enough light from Earth had even reached this distant place without degrading or receiving some kind of interference from other celestial bodies and phenomena. Still, it was weird to her to suddenly be so far from home. If the supergate decided to stop working suddenly, there was no way of traveling back home, as even with the last tech this ship had, its hyperdrives would still burn out a long time before reaching their destination. The Illustrious' hyperdrives were capable of crossing around 50 million light years before needing a thorough overhaul. They could maybe be pushed a little more, but 233 million light years was simply too much for them to make it. Not to mention the fuel would run out. Although, that could be mined from some asteroid easily enough by the light support ship that accompanied their ship.
"We have reached our destination, Captain," the sensors officer informed.
"Good! Keep Condition 3 for now and also give me whatever you can about this galaxy - passive scans only. Also, send it to the strategic room," the Captain ordered before looking at her. "Dr. Weir, if you would like to follow me. XO, take command."
"Coming," she replied quickly, getting up and trotting towards the back of the bridge a few steps behind the captain.
There, in the back, a room that could be isolated with a glass wall awaited them. Inside it, there was a large table in the center with chairs placed sparsely around it. Yet, the captain chose not to sit on any of them. She decided to follow his example. In a few moments, a hologram sprang to life above the table. She immediately knew what it was projecting. "So, this is the home galaxy of the Aklarians."
"Probably. Maybe it isn't. We know that this is one of the seven core galaxies under their ruling, but the information we salvaged from Liam's ship isn't that detailed, and the Aklarians could have also lied to him. Because of it, we must proceed with caution and think that what we know may not be the real situation."
"Agreed. Still, our course of action is already set. We follow the path that Liam followed and left us in his logs."
"Yes, but not blindly. Computer, overlay information we have on the artificial anomalies Liam recorded and the location where he met with the Aklarians."
Without a response from the computer, the galaxy immediately began showing red regions where the recovered information from Liam's ship recorded the distortions in time and space. Regions where the laws of physics were somehow dangerously skewed. "It is not much."
"True, the information we have on the anomalous regions is minuscule, but that's not what worries me. Even with that, we can easily plot a course that would lead us to the location where Liam met the Aklarians."
"So, what's the problem then?"
"The problem is that this information is outdated by more than two years. As you know, the Aklarians have the ability to change the places with anomalous regions, like reshaping a 3D labyrinth on a galactic scale. It is possible that the information we have here is not the current state of the anomalies in this galaxy."
"What's your suggestion then? Do we proceed with caution?"
"Yes. We limit our traveling speed while scanning ahead. We also send one of our escorts to scout before us. I'm also thinking of leaving the builder ship and two Defiants here. No need to risk them needlessly."
"I get leaving the builder ship, but why two escort ships?"
"The builder ship can't protect itself. Therefore, I think that two escorts need to stay here. Also, one escort is certainly needed to scout ahead while we travel, but more than that would be needless. We are in a galaxy ruled by the Aklarians who, as far as we know, have as many as 200,000 ships at their disposal, which means that if they behave aggressively, the best for us is to step back instead of engaging in combat. And we can step back with two ships the same as with three, can't we?"
She actually liked his answer. If it were Sheppard or Caldwell - or god forbid Ellis - they would want to have as much firepower with them as possible, no matter the fact that using said firepower was ill-advised in the current situation. Instead, Warren wanted to take as fewer ships as he could, knowing very well that using force is not an option in their current situation.
"I like it," Weir responded. "Let's proceed in this way. How much time will it take to reach the meeting place?
"I would like to say no more than half a day, but I actually don't know how much we'll have to slow down our traveling speed because of those dangerous regions."
"Well, then. No time to waste. You may proceed at your discretion, Captain. Meanwhile, I'll stay in the strategic room and work on a few things while you do your job of getting us there. Woolsey should join me as well."
"Yes, ma'am."
She watched as the captain went back to his seat, quickly followed by him giving several instructions to the crew. As she made herself comfortable on one of the chairs around the table, the ship soon entered hyperspace on its first journey through this distant and completely unknown galaxy. Woolsey also showed up shortly afterward and joined her in the strategy room. They went one more time through the materials they had on the Aklarians, the little they had, in an attempt to make sure that nothing was omitted. Then they spent a few hours trying various scenarios of when they would begin negotiations, simulating what the Aklarians would do and what their best response should be. It was more a way to pass the time than to actually come up with something useful since the Aklarians were too much of an unknown to know what they will or won't do.
They also had a very nice lunch, until unfortunately, an incident occurred. The escort, the Defiant One, bumped into one of those chaotic regions where the laws of physics didn't cooperate the way they should. The damage to the ship wasn't great, but they quickly realized that the Defiant, with its weaker sensors, wasn't the best choice to be ahead of the Illustrious. Consequently, the Illustrious had taken the lead, ahead of the Defiant. It was better this way. If not, they would have had to slow down their traveling speed even further, which would have prolonged the voyage for several more days at the very least.
Fortunately, there were no more problems and after a good night of sleep and a large breakfast, they were finally there.
"Captain, we have arrived at the designated coordinates," the helm informed the Captain. Not even a second after that, the hyperspace tunnel disappeared and the ship was once again in normal space.
The captain didn't ask the crew. Instead, he looked at his display. He was probably looking at where they were exactly. Weir mirrored his action, looking at her own holo display that was floating on the right side of her chair. She could be using lenses or glasses that could display whatever information she wanted instead, but she had the bad habit of leaving her glasses everywhere and she hated lenses. For some reason, most crew members were also reluctant to use them as a display hood and rather used the holo monitors. The only crew member she knew that was using this all the time was the science officer. She had opted to implant the system directly in her retina. She would never do that.
The ship was listening to her thoughts through the small earpiece she was wearing on her right ear. She had thought about her holo display showing her the same thing as what the captain's display was showing, truly mirroring what he was watching. The display was showing their position inside a foreign star system. There was clearly a star that looked the same as their Sun, and there were many planets circling around it. The display was also showing the habitable region around the star. It was a band between 9 and 12 light minutes from the star in which habitable planets were possible. As far as she could see, there were two of those inside the band and both looked like habitable planets. Their ship was somewhere around 11 light minutes from the star and clearly inside the band, yet nowhere near any of the planets in the system.
And then dots began appearing. Lots and lots of dots.
"Contacts!" the sensors officer yelled.
"I can see them, lieutenant," the Captain responded calmly. "I also see that none of them are close to us. Continue passive scans. Let's build a clearer picture of what we have here."
Impressive. The moment the sensors officer shouted 'contacts!' her heart skipped a beat even though she had already noticed the dots popping up on her display. She almost wanted to shout 'red alert!' for some reason, however, the captain immediately replied with incredible calm. She understood that there was no reason at all for panic to take over. All those ships were so distant that there was no way of them being inside anyone's weapons range. Even with the illustrious' powerful sublight engines, it would still take a lot of time to get near any of the detected clusters of ships.
Still, she had to admit. There was a lot of clusters present in the system.
"I have some tentative data, sir," the sensors officer informed. He waited until the captain nodded at him to proceed. "There are two habitable planets in the system, a colonized moon orbiting the gas giant approximately 37 light minutes from the sun, and other habitats spread throughout the asteroid belt located between the gas giant and the habitable zone."
The system wasn't all that different from our Solar system, except that there was a habitable planet here in place of Mars, and the overall number of planets didn't match. Also, the second habitable planet was nicely trailing the first one about one light minute away from it. It was probably a little colder there than on the first one, but it was still deep inside the habitable region which meant at the very least it was possible to live on it around the equator.
"There's a lot of radio chatter in the system, sir, but… no subspace communication whatsoever," the sensor officer said.
This was quite peculiar. They were here to meet an advanced race capable of creating a massive dominion that spanned across many galaxies, yet, there was no subspace?
Something was wrong.
"What about all those ships clustered together between the two habitable planets?" the Captain asked.
She hadn't noticed it until now, but it was true that there were two pretty large groups of ships close together. Upon sending a mental inquiry to the ship's computer she got back some more details. Both groups were more or less the same size of around a hundred ships each and closing their distance at a slow pace.
"Sir, they are moving quite slowly for space travel. They are also slowing down in relation to each other. 4 gees deceleration," the sensors officer replied.
"Captain, this to me seems like a standard zero-zero approach," the tactical officer butted in.
"Hmm, yes. It appears that way to me too," the Captain responded while nodding. From his expression, it seemed as if he was contemplating something.
These people were having a nice informative conversation that apparently was explaining everything easily. However, she had no clue whatsoever what was going on or what the crew knew and that she didn't. She also didn't want to start asking questions while they were busy thinking. It would be rude of her. For now, she decided to adopt the same contemplative expression as the captain next to her while making small nods as if she was capable of following their conversation while coming to the same conclusion as they did. This was somewhat vexing.
"Still, 4 gees deceleration?" the XO joined the discussion.
Apparently, 4 gees was an important clue to what was going on. Yet she couldn't fathom in what way exactly. Were 4 gees good or bad? Maybe she should have studied more about space travel. However, the part where she could ask things from the ship's computer without everyone knowing could help her. The computer wasn't truly intelligent or anything, but it could give her the right information if she asked the right questions. So, she thought about a ship acceleration and deceleration. Suddenly, the holo display showed information about the Illustrious, from its overall shape to many other parameters. Among those parameters, there were three that were blinking in red instead of the normal neutral white on a dark background. The first was the continuous acceleration, the second was the max acceleration – sustainable for one hour at most – and the third the burst acceleration – available for five minutes only. The first was 640 gees, the second was 820 gees, and the last was 922 gees. From this, she could conclude that 4 gees were very low for a ship.
"No inertial compensators it seems," the Captain responded while stroking its beard.
'What's that?' She heard about inertial dampeners, but what were inertial compensators? 'Again, let's ask the omniscient ship's computer for a quick answer.'
Quickly, the display showed both the information on what an inertial dampener and compensator were. Apparently, a dampener's job was to seemingly lower the ship's mass. Seemingly, because the mass didn't actually lower, whatever that meant exactly. It appears it was just that it seemed that way while the ship was accelerating. With a lower mass, the force applied by the engines needed to be lower as well to achieve the same result. Apparently, the inertial dampener could lower the ships mass by tens of thousands of times. On the other hand, an inertial compensator was a component that reduced the force excreted on everything inside the ship caused due to acceleration. So, a human body wouldn't be able to survive the 650 gee of acceleration. The crew would simply turn into goo. The compensator's job was to lower the applied force inside the ship by even more than a few tens of thousands of times. It was because of that that she had never felt much of an acceleration aboard any of their ships. The 4 gees of acceleration mentioned the unknown ships were under was something a human body could survive even under a prolonged period of time. If she added that there was no subspace chatter in the system, she could come to a conclusion of what the captain was discussing easily enough.
It appears that these people were barely space-capable. She understood that much now, yet, she had the feeling that the captain and the rest of the crew understood more.
"The tactical officer's assumption seems to be correct, sir. Those are clearly warships and there are detectable differences between the ships in the two distinct groups."
Differences between the ships? This was probably another very important clue, she thought. Well, it didn't take her all that much to understand why this was an important clue. If warships had differences in their construction, it meant they belonged to different factions. Since they were warships, it also meant that they were going to fight each other. The zero-zero intercept meant they were going to slow down so that they could slug it off to their heart's content apparently.
"They are going to fight?" she muttered the question without even realizing it.
The captain turned. "If our little analysis is correct, yes, they seem to be preparing to do exactly that. They also seem to be on level 2, technologically speaking. Space capable, yet unable to leave their star system."
Warren was showing her what was displayed on his monitor. Since she had to spend time asking the ship's Wikipedia about things, she inevitably had stopped mirroring his display. Maybe it was better if she had continued doing so because the information displayed was about the race in the system. She decided to mirror his monitor once again. Now, on her own display, she could see the tentative data about the only intelligent race present in the whole system. Habitable planets seemed packed with them. A clear sign of overpopulation. They were grey bipedal creatures of approximately five feet in height and there were billions of them. The population density was much higher compared to humans on Earth, especially now that Earth's population was slowly falling due to the great colonization efforts being done in these past few years.
The largest planet had more than 15 billion people living on it while the other one, the slightly smaller planet, had around 5 billion. The moon orbiting the gas giant and the asteroid belt also had close to another billion living souls. It seemed that real estate was at a premium in this alien system. Yet, regrettably, they didn't have the technology to leave it in search for greener pasture.
"Captain, I'm detecting dozens of satellites spread evenly throughout the system. They possess a different level of technology than what the natives possess. The satellites possess active subspace sensors, long-range subspace communication, and stealth technology effective enough to hide them from the natives of this system," the sensor officer reported.
"I think I now know how Liam met them. This is a system the Aklarians are monitoring. This race is probably too primitive or too much of a hassle for the Aklarians to want them in their Dominion," the Captain explained his theory.
"Which explains the satellites in the system monitoring the situation," Weir finished the theory. "However, this also means that this probably isn't the rendezvous point Liam and the Aklarians set up. Instead, this is where they met for the first time. We had the wrong information."
"With the deterioration of the data Liam's ship had sustained, it is a good thing for us to successfully have retrieved this much. Otherwise, we would have to wonder the galaxy searching for them. Not something I'd want to be doing, especially with the galaxy filled with those chaotic regions," the Captain added.
"We'll still need to do it regardless, won't we?" Weir asked.
"Don't think that will be necessary. We can safely assume that those satellites have recorded our arrival in the system and have or, if not, will eventually send the data to the Aklarians. When that happens, I'm confident they'll send a ship to investigate," Warren answered.
They were going to repeat the same thing as what Liam had done. It wasn't ideal. The Aklarians didn't know them, their ship was different than Liam's, and they didn't know their language. Not the way she liked conducting business when the fate of their races was at stake. If, instead, they had the right rendezvous coordinates, that alone would give the Aklarians a clue of who they were. "So, our next move is to sit tight and wait."
"Exactly, Doctor Weir. It also appears that we are very soon going to have a nice spectacle in front of us. Which means, we will be collecting some nice data on a race incapable of leaving their home system while also being plagued by a severe case of overpopulation. Our xenologists back home will probably debate over the data we collect here today for decades to come," the Captain added.
It sounded cruel when she heard it say it. The way the captain confirmed how they were going to watch while these people killed each other right in front of them. Yet, she didn't retort back. They were not here to intervene – and they didn't have the right to do it either. It was their system and stopping them from waging war wouldn't help anyone besides their conscience. In order to truly help them, a lot of time and effort would be needed. She also knew that the moment their business with the Aklarians was over, her ship would leave the system as well as the entire galaxy, possibly to never return. "I wouldn't call it a spectacle, Captain, but I get what you mean. So, what do we do now exactly, except for waiting?"
"Not much. As said, we wait and we also let the Aklarian see through their spy satellites how we have no intentions of leaving the system. Yet, we also show no sign of aggression toward the natives. Hopefully, it won't take too long before a ship arrives to check us out."
She nodded in agreement. There was not much else to do then than to wait, patiently.
Time slowly passed by. On the many monitors on the bridge, the crew – her included – were reading a myriad of data the scans of the system were returning. The ship was collecting broadcasts in order to learn as much as possible about the system's native race. By now, the ship was able to create a language conversion matrix capable of instantly translating the alien language, which helped things greatly. With that, she was now able to watch some of the collected materials. From that, she was getting a decent picture of what kind of people they were and what was currently going on in the entirety of their system. The natives indeed were having trouble with their overpopulation. Their homeworld was smaller than Earth, yet they were packed with double the number of individuals. Simply too many for the planet's ecosystem to handle. Because of it, the value of life on the planet was very low. Moreover, the second planet, the one that had been colonized some fifty years ago in an attempt to somewhat diminish the severity of their overpopulation problem, had stopped accepting colonists in an attempt to prevent the planet from suffering from the same problem. Essentially, the planet had declared independence and apparently it had done so pretty smartly, only after having successfully built a strong Fleet capable of defending them and having worked out some nice deals with the people living inside the asteroid belt and the distant moon. Apparently, the way they achieved independence and survived was due to an advantageous new discovery of an improved inertial compensator that was capable of achieving a slightly higher acceleration without the crew suffering the consequences. The crew of the Illustrious were unimpressed, since to the Terrans an inertial compensator that compensated for accelerations below 10 gees wasn't something even worth mentioning. Yet, to the people of Ufronoe, the second planet, it gave them an advantage in most battles because their largest ships were able to accelerate faster by 1 meager gee. Quicker repositioning of their fleet elements, the ability to accelerate faster in order to pursue or, if needed, escape, and the ability to make tighter turns in crucial moments without the crew ending up pushed into their seats under unbearable force. It was giving them an enormous advantage they had exploited in order to retain their independence for the past five years.
Of course, the other side didn't just take it. The people of Gloth, the race's homeworld, had a bigger industry capable of building the needed military assets in order to return Ufronoe under their ruling. They also had much more people to toss in this war. She didn't know the details of how her crew got the information, but it seems that the people of Gloth had been able to develop better missiles than their counterpart. It seems the science and tactical officer worked hard and broke into one of Gloth's military mainframes from where they had promptly sucked all kinds of data to be perused through at a later time. She didn't know how to feel about this clear case of data theft perpetrated by their part, and it was casting a dire picture of her righteous Terran Federation. She only knew that they were now doing the same thing to Ufronoe's mainframes and there was no remorse to be seen on their faces. She didn't even know when they had sent the needed stealth probes that had then reached the two planets and were now used in breaking into whatever system they deemed interesting breaking into. She really had a diligent crew, she had to admit that much.
To steal so much data in such a short time, it was truly praiseworthy.
Sarcasm aside, she didn't spend all of her time watching broadcasts. She was also watching the two fleets still going to collide. They were decelerating hard in anticipation for the battle to come. The Glothans had almost 20% more ships, while the Ufornoeans were clearly decelerating faster.
Then, it suddenly began.
Missiles were fired from the hundreds of ships on both sides as if they had an inexhaustible reserve of the exploding things. At slightly more than 30 gees, they sped towards the opposing side with complete abandon. It would still take a while before they reached their target, even with their much higher acceleration compared to the still decelerating ships.
"Are those nukes?" She asked.
"Some," the Captain responded. "They are firing thousands of missiles so they probably don't have all that much plutonium in their arsenal. As you probably know, plutonium is not present in nature except in small quantities or in places near recent supernova explosions. After all, the material is radioactive, with a half-life measurable in the hundreds of thousands of years, which is very little compared to the time stars are formed and destroyed in supernova explosions."
"Yeah, I knew that much even from my time back as a diplomat brokering deals between countries on Earth. Plutonium is produced artificially inside special nuclear reactors. All four transuranic elements are," Weir responded, happy of knowing such things. "So, what kind are the other missiles?"
"They seem to be penetrator missiles. In a similar way as our HEAT missiles that are meant to penetrate the armor of tanks, these missiles also have the task to bust the armor of capital ships and cause internal damage. There is also the damage caused by the sudden decompression once the outer hull is breached."
She more or less knew the principle behind a HEAT missile, so she wasn't about to ask for a more detailed explanation. Still, the wireframe image on her monitor of one of the natives' capital ships was showing a layered armor, probably meant to protect the deepest parts of a ship even after the outer layer had been penetrated. "How effective could those missiles be?"
"Alone such a missile wouldn't do much damage. However, we are talking about thousands and thousands of missiles being fired. The damage simply piles up." As the captain explained, a new barrage of missiles was fired, but those were different. "Those are interceptors meant to thin out the incoming missiles. They will probably target nukes first as they pose a greater threat. The probes we have there are also detecting ECM being fired from both sides in order to confuse the missiles and force them to lose their locks."
There we so many lines on her monitor depicting the missiles' trajectories that she didn't know exactly where to look. The interceptor missiles were locking onto incoming missiles only to lose the lock caused by the enemy's ECM, only to regain the lock a moment later. It was now a battle of components. It was a question of whose side had the better propulsion, electronics, ECMs, ECCMs, and adaptive algorithms to the constantly evolving situation. They would probably come out victorious.
The fired interceptors were doing a very good job, a much better one than what she believed they would. There weren't many nukes to being with, but now, after the encounter with the interceptors, those remaining nukes on both sides could be counted on her fingers. From the initial number of missiles racing towards both sides, they were now halved and far below one thousand. She was sure that those remaining would do a lot of damage, but then the point defense systems begun chewing on the remaining missiles. She had to admit, the defenses on both sides seemed better than their offensive arsenal. The missiles were slowly being removed from the battle theater.
"Will any missile even reach their targets or will they all be eliminated?" Weir asked.
"Some will, but not many. Our predictions are usually below two percent of our missiles reaching an enemy with a similar technological level that has strong point defense systems, such as the Vargas for example. I think the situation here is similar since they are the same race hence technologically speaking they are very similar," the captain explained.
"Isn't that a little too little. It seems wasteful to fire so many missiles for such an outcome," Weir retorted.
"True, but it is also a way to hurt the enemy while still far outside the range of the ship's main weapons. No matter how small the impact, it is still better than nothing. In the Battle of Eden, against the Vargas, there were a few barrages we fired that contained tens of thousands of missiles. Yet, only a few hundred missiles reached their intended target. Many would think of it as a total waste of resources, but the truth is that with that barrage our ships had to deal with a dozen or so less of the Vargas most dangerous ships. Those capable of firing their antiproton beams and slicing through our ships in one go."
She didn't even think of the Battle of Eden, even though she knew what had happened in great detail. She had watched the recreated battle many times and knew exactly what the captain was talking about. "So that's how it is. Essentially, it is wasteful, but you still have no choice but to do it."
"That's right," the Captain responded absentmindedly while watching at his monitor. "Look! They are now entering the real fight. Now that they are finally entering into weapons range."
She could see it too on her holo-display. She was trying to understand what the two fleets were doing, without truly succeeding. There was some complex maneuvering, it was clear enough, but why they were doing it, that part wasn't clear to her. "What are they doing?"
The captain was intently looking at his monitor. Maybe he didn't like her asking questions at this point, but she really wanted to know. After a while, the captain's expression changed as if he had finally understood what was going on. "Well, you can easily see here why the Ufornoeans investing in their inertial compensators was a good thing. With their ability of higher accelerations, they are now able to better position their ships. Essentially, what they are doing is position their ships so that most of them are able to confront the top left corner of the other side's wall formation once they clash."
"And why is that an advantage?" she asked. She could possibly come up with an answer on her own, but since the captain was in the mood to explain, why not listen instead, right?
"Because it doesn't matter how many ships the opponent has, but how many are able to engage at any given moment. You see, with the Ufornoeans targeting only this upper portion, the battle will be with all of the Ufornoean ships firing while more than half of the other side will be unable to fire back. Even though the Glothans have more ships, they will have fewer weapons firing during this first clash."
It happened as the captain had predicted. Half of the Glothans formation was unable to fire at the enemy. On the other hand, the Ufornoeans were able to bring all of their ships' weapons to bear. It was two fleets coming across each other in just a short moment, even though they had spent so much time decelerating, and then they began separating from each other once again. Of course, the engines were working at full power in order to reposition the ships in both fleets and prepare for the second clash while, for the moment, still drifting apart.
The monitor was updating with damage reports from both sides. Short range missiles and heavy railguns had done the damage and there were a few ships now drifting out of formation due to extensive damage to their propulsion system. When the fleets are large, targeting engines is a very good strategy since those ships will immediately fall out of formation, hence they will be out of the fight even though their ships are still in a good fighting condition. There were now dozens of ships drifting out of the fight, and if the other side ended up victorious, they would later be targeted and destroyed easily enough.
"You were right. There's more damage on the Glothan's side even though they have more ships," Weir acknowledged.
"True, but not as many as I thought there would be. It seems the Glothans have better railguns capable of causing more damage. Which makes sense, since they were here in the first place."
"What do you mean?"
"The Glothans are the aggressors. They are the ones who are trying to reach Ufronoe, which means they were the ones who decided that what they were sending was a large enough fleet to succeed. There is no way their strategists didn't run simulations while taking into account their adversaries' better acceleration capabilities. They must believe that their increased firepower and a slightly greater number of ships will compensate for that, and from what I'm seeing, it does. Still, in the end, it will be up to their respective admirals to come up with a winning strategy. That's what counts the most."
In the meantime, the two fleets were preparing for the second skirmish. However, it seemed there was no difference in the two formations, except for the Ufornoeans this time targeting the lower right edge of the enemy's wall formation. However, the captain seemed excited for some reason. "What is it?"
"Do you see the Glothan ships on the edges of their wall formation having slowed down a little compared to those in the center?"
It was barely noticeable. "Yeah, somewhat. What of it?"
"I bet they are going to change into a box formation. Maybe even towards an elongated box formation. If the change is sudden, the opposing force might be unable to graze only the outer edge of the formation as intended. Instead, the Glothans would be the ones who would pierce their formation with their trailing elements. Since the Glothans had more ships to begin with and also had better railguns, this could be very dangerous for the Ufronoeans. Having better maneuverability is something I prefer over firepower, but the commanding officer must be a quick-witted guy or else his advantage can evaporate in an instant."
Weir looked at what was going to happen. Then she noticed that at the same time as the Glothan formation began shifting the formation of the outer ships, those located on the borders, falling behind, the other side had also begun changing course. It seemed the Ufornoean CO had anticipated the Glothan strategy and was changing course in order to target only the trailing elements, those that were falling behind.
The captain also saw it and smiled. It seemed he was rooting for the Ufornoeans for some reason. "Yep, the Ufornoean CO is good. And he did it at the right moment. There's no time for the Glothans to change their formation. They will clash as they are now."
Warren was good, she had to admit it. She wouldn't put it past him to get a promotion to Admiral after this mission was over. She wasn't an expert, but from what she could see the man was good at strategy. The man was almost wasted as a mere captain. Although, since there was no Admiral in this little task force of theirs, as the most senior captain, he was the one in overall charge. And he was also right about the outcome of the battle unfolding in front of their eyes. The Ufornoeans had once again caused greater damage by targeting only the trailing elements of the enemy formation just at the right time, giving no time to the enemy's CO to reposition their elements. If things continued like this, it wasn't difficult to predict who the victor would be. They two fleets were once again licking their wounds while drifting apart.
It was just that, this time, they were drifting apart quite a lot, which was strange. "Is this some new strategy of theirs that I'm not getting?"
The captain was watching intently as well. "If it is, it is not one I ever saw before."
It seemed they were not preparing for a third skirmish like the last time. However, the vector was beginning to change, of both fleets. "Where are they going?"
It took a moment before the captain sighed deeply. "Here. They are coming here because they've noticed us. This is probably the fastest truce I've ever seen."
"Here? Aren't we in stealth?" Weir was asking. She wasn't sure of anything at this point.
"That would have defeated the purpose of us being here, wouldn't it? We came here and exited hyperspace in the middle of the system with the intent of being noticed. When we learned that there are satellites the Aklarians are using to monitor the system, the most logical thing was to remain visible so that they could clearly see what we are doing, showing them clearly that we have no hostile intentions. The problem is, I didn't think the natives would be able to pick us up so quickly without having subspace sensors."
"So, they've somehow seen us, and now they are coming in force?" Weir asked.
"Yes, ma'am," the sensors officer responded first, clearly having something more to add. "And the fact that we've been noticed is spreading like wildfire. Actually, the two fleets were not the first that reacted. There are ships from the asteroid belt and from the main planet that are also coming here."
"Are they coming to greet us, or fire at us?" Weir asked.
"No way to know at this point. Not that it matters, though," the Captain answered.
"Meaning?"
"Doctor Weir, our ship is capable of nearly one thousand gees of acceleration and the ability to enter FTL whenever we want. They, on the other hand, will spend the next day or so in order for the closest ships to come near us. Whatever they try to do, they cannot intercept us if we don't want them to."
"So, let's say that we push our ship on a nice elliptical trajectory around the star at an easy 100 gees of acceleration. Do you think the aliens would get the right idea how it is impossible for them to catch us?" Weir asked. There was no point in letting these people run here for no good reason.
"We could do this, but that could possibly create an even greater panic."
"Why?"
"Because, up to this point, we are a single alien ship inside their home system that they are trying to reach. However, if we do what you've suggested, then we become the single alien ship inside their home system that's capable of a ludicrous acceleration of a 100 gees. At least, that's how it would look from their point of view."
It was true. If an alien ship entered Sol and began doing things thought impossible, all on Earth would freak out. "So, what do we do?"
"Nothing whatsoever. We said we would appear to be as unthreatening as possible and that's exactly what we are going to do. If inside a day the Aklarians are still not here, we can begin slowly inching away from them when the time comes."
"All right. It makes sense. Pretty boring, but what can you do, right? It's weird to say it, but I was somehow disappointed their battle got interrupted. Even more the fact that we are responsible for it. In the end, we meddled in other's affairs anyway. Maybe it's destiny for us to always do so."
"True, but I somehow think that we'll have many opportunities during this mission to witness similar battles," the captain replied.
"Well then, since there's not much of any interest happening right now, I'm going to get some rest. Once the Aklarians show up, I don't think I'll have such a luxury."
"Very well, Doctor Weir. If something noteworthy happens, I'll call you right away."
"Thank you, Captain," she responded before getting up and leaving the bridge. It all ended pretty anticlimactically and now they will probably have to spend many hours or even days waiting for the Aklarians to come here.
Better to spend that time sleeping than worrying.
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