Eyes of Tomorrow (Duchy of Terra Book 9), Glynn Stewart [reading well .TXT] 📗

“What happens if what you’re looking for is gone, Doctor?” Castellash asked, glancing worriedly at where Lawrence and Mok were already flipping through images of the various platforms.

“It depends on which piece, Director,” Rin told him. “This facility is attached to one of our two critical components. If we can’t find the plasma collectors but we do find teleporters, we can probably achieve our target, but it will be a more fragile system.

“If we don’t find teleporters, even having the collectors and the controller won’t do us any good.”

“Then I hope we discovered the stations you need. I lost shell-brothers at Tohrohsail,” Castellash admitted. “I fear for the Hive.”

“I fear for the galaxy, Castellash,” Rin told him. “So, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to see if we have the right ruined ancient space stations.”

Chapter Forty-Nine

“Anomalies detected at maximum range,” Rogers reported. “Estimates put them just inside the Astoroko Nebula.”

“Understood,” Morgan replied, checking the main display. “What have we got?”

The holotank was showing the estimated position of the special task group—they weren’t close enough to any stars to definitively locate themselves at that moment—as they approached the Astoroko Nebula in hyperspace.

“Looks like they’ve positioned bioforms along the perimeter of the nebula,” Rogers told her. “We’re picking up more as we approach. They look to be separated by about a realspace light-year.”

“Even so, that’s a lot of ships to be using as a defensive screen,” Morgan noted. “Any sign of more major movement?”

“Not right now. We’re only going to get eyes on a small portion of the nebula as we go in. Unless our timing is just right, we won’t see any deployments,” the chief of staff replied.

“I know. I can hope,” Morgan said. “Let’s adjust our course to cut right between their sentinels at maximum range. They shouldn’t be able to see us through the stealth fields, but we have problems seeing them in hyperspace as it is.”

“What about immobile scanner units?” Morgan’s new operations officer, an Ivida named Ort, asked. “We can only detect them in hyperspace while they’re moving.”

“We can’t do anything about them,” Morgan admitted to him. “We’ll keep our eyes peeled as we close, in case we see something, but so long as they’re staying still, they’re invisible to us.

“We have to plan with what we can see and hope that what we can’t see is still far enough away that we’re covered.”

Against the Laian hyperspatial anomaly scanners the Infinite system was presumably based on, their stealth fields were good to sixty light-seconds in both realspace and hyperspace. That should be enough, but Morgan didn’t know what tricks the Infinite might have added to their stolen sensor systems.

“If we adjust as specified, we’ll add about four twentieth-cycles to our trip to the first star in the rosette,” Rogers warned.

“I doubt this will be the last diversion from our planned course,” Morgan replied. “Make the course change and watch for surprises.

“We are in the Infinite’s territory now.”

Morgan caught herself holding her breath as the task group approached the Infinite’s sensor perimeter. There wasn’t anything else out there other than the scouts, not that they could see, at least.

But she was grimly certain that if those sentinels detected her ships, she and all her people were doomed. She’d flee any pursuit out of hyperspace, where she could engage with her entire arsenal, but that wouldn’t be enough. Not against the immense numbers available to their enemy.

“Closest approach in forty seconds,” Ort announced. “No change in profile on the sensor screen. No immobile units detected. Everything appears clear.”

Seconds ticked by.

“New contact,” Ort snapped. “Big contact. No…two contacts. Separate. Resolving now.”

“In the tank, Commander,” Morgan ordered.

A chunk of the big holodisplays shimmered, then resolved into the icons of unknown contacts. Two of them, close together but on different vectors.

“That’s two swarms; confirm the vectors,” Morgan said. She could see something to them, but she wanted confirmation.

“Labeling Charlie and Delta,” Ort confirmed. “Swarm Charlie is on an exit vector from the nebula; she is heading out at sixty percent of lightspeed. Vector is…toward Wendira space.”

“Wonderful,” Morgan said grimly. “Rogers? Let’s start plotting a point to drop out of hyperspace and phone home. Ort, confirm that line and get me one on Delta.”

“Swarm Delta looks like a defensive force,” the ops officer told her. “Their velocity is significantly lower, and they are actively accelerating on what looks like a circular course. They are orbiting the rosette at two hyperspace light-cycles.”

“That’ll be between one and three light-years, depending on where they are in the nebula, right?” Rogers asked.

“Yes, sir,” Ort confirmed.

“If we’re seeing Delta at this range, they’re big,” Morgan said quietly. They were still five light-cycles, over a week’s travel for her ships, from the rosette.

“Charlie is much closer and was lined up with them for a few minutes, from our perspective,” Ort told her. “That’s why it looked like one contact. But…yeah. Estimated minimum mass for Swarm Delta is five trillion tons.”

Morgan swallowed a silent whistle. That had to be multiple Category Sixes at least. Mass wasn’t as clear an indicator of capability for the Infinite as it was for, say, Core Power ships, but it helped.

The entire Laian space navy massed about half a trillion tons, and that was about standard for a Core Power. Swarm Delta outmassed the entire musterable fleets of the three nations currently engaged with the Infinite by over three to one.

“Swarm Charlie is smaller, but still…” Ort was Ivida. His face didn’t move, but he shook his head from side to side as he stared down at his screen. “Twenty percent uncertainty, but I make it around a trillion tons.”

“We definitely need to drop out of hyperspace and send a message,” Morgan decided. “It’ll cost us a few more twentieth-cycles, but we need to give Delta a chance to move out of our way, anyway.”

“How soon?” Rogers asked.

“Get us half a hyperspace light-cycle away from the sensor screen,” Morgan ordered. “Then we’ll bring the entire group out of