The Dres’kin snapped back into standard space on the extreme fringes of the Eritain system. It had taken them twenty-eight and a half hours and fifteen jumps to reach the Gattainian Cluster from Sector 351. The destroyer was cloaked and, with full shields deployed, its arrays scanned the system thoroughly.
‘Bloody hell!’ exclaimed a member of the bridge crew manning one of the array consoles.
‘Recruit,’ the captain barked. ‘Exclamations of that nature are definitely not standard bridge etiquette.’
‘No, Captain, sorry,’ the recruit replied, looking over his shoulder with wide eyes. ‘It’s just I’ve got ship debris and bodies—dozens of bodies.’
‘Where?’ Yamaton called, turning to gaze at the holomap.
The information from the array updated, showing three fields of growing debris around eight hundred million kilometres ahead.
‘Take us there, flank speed and scan for survivors.’
‘Is one of them my ship?’ Nexen asked, squinting up at the display.
‘Too early to tell, Commander,’ said Yamaton as the Dres’kin accelerated and screamed into the system at point eight light.
‘There are several ships heading for the area from further inside the system, Captain,’ the array recruit stated.
‘Military?’ the captain asked.
‘Yes, sir,’ came the reply. ‘I’m getting shields and weapon systems coming online.’
A sudden flash had all those looking at the holomap shielding their eyes.
‘Nuclear detonation, Captain,’ said the recruit, a nervous edge to his voice. ‘It was the leading ship—a debris field similar to the other three is expanding from its last position.’
‘Is there any sign of the Xhamin?’ Yamaton asked.
‘None, sir.’
‘It must have a cloaking system too,’ said Bache from the side of the bridge.
Yamaton glanced at him for a second before turning back to the holomap. ‘Hit the region with every wavelength of every beam we have,’ he ordered. ‘There must be something that gives away its location, and make our approach random too. I don’t want us to run into one of those nukes either.’
‘Is cloaking a ship possible now?’ asked Nexen.
‘It has been for about five hundred years,’ said Bache. ‘Although the technology has had to evolve many times since, as cloaking countermeasures are invented. That’s what the captain’s trying now.’
‘The first three ships destroyed weren’t military, sir,’ called the array officer. ‘They were two civilian cargo vessels and a passenger liner.’
‘That explains so many bodies,’ Yamaton growled. ‘We need to stop this bastard and quickly.’
‘The other vessels are taking evasive action, Captain,’ said the navigator. ‘They’ve all turned sharply and are heading away in different directions.’
Yamaton nodded, turned and stepped over to the array consoles. ‘Any sign of survivors?’ he asked, the resignation in his voice indicating he already knew the answer.
‘Sorry, sir,’ came the almost apologetic answer. ‘There’s nothing bigger than a dinner plate left of those ships.’
‘Murdering shits,’ Yamaton mumbled as he turned away and studied the holomap.
‘Ah, ha,’ came the cry from behind him again.
Quickly turning back and placing his hands on the array officer’s shoulders, Yamaton spoke softly. ‘I’ll overlook the non-regulation analysis, if you tell me you’ve found him?’
The recruit pointed at an almost invisible glimmer that shimmied on his screen every few seconds.
‘It’s showing in the high bands of the Hikkonald range, Captain.’
‘Can you track it?’
‘Now I know where to look and concentrate the array’s power, yes, I think so.’
‘Do it and project it up here,’ said Yamaton, waving at the holomap.
A few moments later a hazy red line appeared, stretching across the system to the fourth planet.
‘That’s Eritain,’ said Nexen, standing suddenly and gesticulating wildly at the holomap. ‘You must stop them. They could murder millions from orbit with those weapons.’
‘What’s their speed?’ Yamaton asked.
‘Point eight light, Captain.’
‘Pursue with everything we have,’ said Yamaton, turning and pointing at the pilot.
‘How fast is this ship?’ Nexen asked, sitting again and glancing at Bache.
‘Point eight one light,’ said Bache, meeting Nexen’s gaze.
‘But that means we won’t catch them in time,’ he said, staring back at Yamaton. ‘Can’t we jump past them and hit them as they fly by?’
Yamaton turned to face the navigation officer. ‘How many ships in the vicinity of Eritain?’ he asked.
The officer studied her screen for a moment before replying. ‘Three thousand two hundred and seventy-nine vessels presently within two hundred and fifty thousand kilometres of the planet, Captain.’
Yamaton turned back to Nexen and raised his eyebrows. ‘Do you realise what would happen if we jumped into that lot?’ he said. ‘Even if we managed to avoid emerging inside another vessel, the fact that we would be cloaked would make the chances of a collision much more likely.’
Nexen opened his mouth to say something, but changed his mind, huffed, sat back and crossed his arms.
‘How long before they get there?’ asked Bache.
Everyone turned towards the navigator.
‘Seventy-two minutes,’ she said.
Bache turned his attention back to the captain. ‘Captain,’ he said. ‘I’d like to volunteer in advance to board the Xhamin once it’s disabled, along with the commander and his android.’
‘That’s all very good of you to offer, Mr Loftt,’ said Yamaton, not even turning to face him. ‘But I think a detachment of our armoured marines can handle that if the situation presents.’
‘That’s just what they’d expect though and be prepared for,’ said Bache. ‘I could engineer a mini cloak to cover my approach and get aboard unnoticed, and with luck utilise the android to shut down their defence systems.’
‘Yes, thank you, Mr Loftt,’ said Yamaton, this time turning to meet his gaze. ‘You forget this is first and foremost a training voyage, where I am entrusted to teach incoming naval officers that operating by the book is sacrosanct. Making it up as you go along and relying on Lady Luck is not the way of an experienced leader. We have set protocols for most scenarios laid down by decades of experience and learning by mistakes made in the past. Am I making myself quite clear?’
‘Yes, sir, absolutely,’ said Bache, noticing Clammer smirking at him.
‘And you can wipe that grin off your face too, Mr Feltaraine,’ growled Yamaton. ‘I seem to remember it was your dumb stupidity that sent my ship into that wormhole.’
‘Yes, sir—sorry, sir,’ said Clammer, the smile vanishing as he sat up straight and stared at the opposite bridge wall.