Countdown, John Walker [online e book reader txt] 📗

signals across the system,” Dorian replied, “all ervas ships are standing down. Weapons are powered off. Fighters are withdrawing.” He let out a sigh of relief. “We’ve won, sir. We’ve won.”

Even he sounds subdued about it. Noah looked forward to the victory. He thought it might bring him some peace, some sense of calm after everything they’d been through and done. Instead, he felt hollow. The events since the first attack on their colony weighed on him. All that he’d seen, all the battles and missions, they were exhausting.

I don’t know how to act right now.

“Congratulations,” Wilmarth spoke over the comm. They could hear men cheering on his bridge. “We’ve done it! The cost was high, but success! You’ve done well, Captain!”

Have we? Noah couldn’t even begin to count the number of people they lost. When he received the casualty report, he knew he’d be sick. So many lives gone. The ervas meant to destroy them, plow into their systems and obliterate their colonies, kill them all perhaps. We beat them to the punch. I just never imagined we’d lose so many.

“Orders, sir?” Erica asked.

“Stand down,” Noah replied. “Keep our defenses live. Dorian, let’s see about getting a message home. We may need reinforcements. The enemy fleet might return. Everyone’s still on alert until we know otherwise. Get me Rita on the line. Nina, bring our fighters home. We’ll have to make room for the ones that don’t have a berth.”

“Then?” Erica asked.

“Then…” Noah shrugged. “We wait for Trenik to start the talks. We get some diplomats out here. We hope this peace lasts beyond the month. And we rebuild. A lot of lives, a lot of places. The Gold Empire isn’t our full ally yet, so we’ve got some effort there too. So yeah, we won today. But the real victory, the real battles won’t be fought by us.”

“So fate falls in the hands of diplomats?” Nina chuckled. “God help us, huh?”

“Indeed.” Noah nodded as he returned to his seat. God help us all.

***

The key was arriving first. Erris knew it. She tasked every ship under her command to push beyond acceptable risk, into straight dangerous territory. Each of them had to override safety protocols, pushing their computers to accept commands meant to preserve the equipment and frankly, to save lives.

Thirty ships entered hyperspace to arrive at the coordinates. She had no illusion that all of them would make it. But if even ten pulled out, joined by the Gold Empire ships, then they had a real chance to stop a battle before it even began. Having the exact coordinates of the arriving fleet was a huge advantage, providing they could seize it.

We’ll make it.

The three and a half hour long trip proved to be the least comfortable of her life and that included some of the bumpy rides in Borden’s ship. Knowing the crew, she’d receive complaints about it. They didn’t feel the urgency. Their contracts stated they didn’t have to suffer in uncomfortable circumstances without good cause.

Even with it, they’ll find a way to raise a stink.

One of the things she liked the least about working with MerCon came down to the entitlement of the people. Many of them didn’t have choices so when they did, they exercised them with extreme prejudice. They weren’t unionized, but that didn’t matter. They had HR to complain too.

And that department wanted to be left alone to the point they’d come down on commanders who offended the people.

We’ve got grounds this time. I’ll fight HR myself. With my bare hands if I have to.

An alarm went off, letting them know they’d reached their destination. Any miscalculation, any bit of bad luck might’ve made them late. If they were, then the Gold Empire would likely be destroyed. We’ll find the ruins of it…and the enemy fleet will be gone. Off to their next target which we will have no idea about.

“We’re arriving,” Missy announced. “Pulling out of hyperspace…now.”

“I’ve got control,” Richard said, “easing out…and…” The ship didn’t shudder, didn’t make noise like the Morrigan might’ve. Despite being top-of-the-line for the military, it lacked much in the way of general luxuries. MerCon vessels went the extra mile…though such things tended to come with an associated maintenance cost. “We’re here.”

Erris bit her lip to avoid barking unnecessary orders. Her people knew what to do. Missy needed a moment for the sensors to come back online. Richard would raise the shields. They’d establish communications with the other vessels in the vicinity and more importantly, let her know what they were up against.

Options: we arrived on time… we arrived in the middle of the assault… we arrived too late.

While they had shown up within the time frame from the message, that didn’t mean random events didn’t impact the ervas movement. They might’ve come out earlier…or they may not have come at all. There were so many ways the situation could’ve gone. The reason it stressed her so much came down to where the enemy might be if not at those coordinates.

If this isn’t it, I’m sure we’ll hear from them soon.

“Report ready, Missy said. “The planet’s surface seems to be in order. Defenders are in position as we requested. The enemy has not yet arrived.”

Richard cheered, clapping his hands.

“Settle down,” Erris said though she agreed with him. If they hadn’t assaulted the place yet, then they got there in time. “How many of our ships are here?”

“Just one so far but the hyperspace signature is huge. At least a dozen though I’d say more. It’s off the meter, ma’am.”

“Excellent.” Erris stood. “Get our weapons online. Shields up. I want all weapons ready to go in the event of another hyperspace surge.”

We’re ready for you. Even without the other MerCon vessels, the defensive fleet from the Gold Empire may have been enough to make short