Once everyone was ready, Linda jumped the Gabriel into the Prasinos System and transmitted the warning to the gathered and prepared GDA fleet.
Two hundred and eighty-nine assorted naval vessels surrounded Dasos out to five hundred thousand kilometres. The fleet comprised an intimidating thirty-six Katadromiko cruisers, eighty-one Polemistis class battleships, one hundred and fourteen Grigora class cruisers and the remainder consisted of Apergia and Machi class destroyers and Velima gunship corvettes.
Cleo took the Cartella straight out as soon as the Gabriel arrived, closely followed by Ed and Andy in the mini-mes.
‘Holy crap, look at all that,’ exclaimed Andy, as his three-dimensional targeting suite opened up around him. ‘Triyl’s not going to know what hit him.’
A voice they’d heard before broke the silence from the fleet.
‘This is Commander Kil’nur. Fleet will cloak, hold your positions and only engage active vessels within your specific targeting zones. Do not target disabled vessels or the colony ship and Gabriel, please remain a safe distance from the fleet. Kil’nur out.’
The fleet almost disappeared from the Gabriel’s holomap, but because of the Ancients’ technology Ed had stolen from the gateway control room two years earlier, they could still make out the shadows of the closest ships.
‘Can you still see the Mogul fleet, Rayl?’ Ed asked, although he wasn’t sure why he bothered asking the question because he already knew the answer.
‘No, we’re too far away now,’ she said. ‘But judging by the way they were all positioning themselves into a battle formation before we left, they weren’t far away from the final jump here.’
‘Okay,’ he called. ‘Phil, can you take over the helm now and keep the Gabriel, as Kil’nur asked, a reasonable distance away from the GDA fleet? Linda, could you oversee the weapons suite and, Rayl, can you provide her with targets at the rear of the fleet and look after the shields?’
It went quiet after he received acknowledgements from everyone. Ed couldn’t remember ever seeing the Prasinos system so quiet. Normally, it was the busiest area of space in the galaxy, with thousands of ship movements every day, coming and going through seven jump zones.
After twenty minutes nothing had happened.
‘How far out are you scanning for the fleet, Rayl?’ Ed asked, breaking the silence.
‘A thousand light years,’ she replied. ‘Just in case they decided to – oh shit!’
‘Oh shit, what?’ said Ed.
‘They’ve jumped into the Trelorus system,’ she called, with an edge of panic in her voice.
‘Ah crap,’ Ed heard Andy mumble as he replied.
‘Andy, Cleo, back to the Gabriel and Linda, plot a jump there, initiate it as soon as we’re aboard. Commander Kil’nur, the Mogul fleet has appeared in the Trelorus system for some reason.’
‘The council,’ he replied. ‘They must be going for the council summit on Panemorfi.’
‘Oh shit,’ Ed blurted. ‘No one told us about that.’
The two mini-mes and the Cartella darted into the Gabriel’s hangars.
‘Commander Loftt is there with––’
Kil’nur’s transmission was cut short as the Gabriel jumped into the Trelorus system. As soon as they arrived, the three smaller ships were out of the hangars again like hornets from a poked nest.
‘The target’s definitely Panemorfi,’ called a nervous-sounding Rayl. ‘The Hope is heading straight for it.’
‘Cleo, go,’ shouted Ed, before changing to a wide frequency and calling his friend Bache Loftt.
‘Jumping now,’ Cleo replied.
‘Bache, this is Edward,’ he called. ‘Do not target the colony ship. I repeat, do not target the colony ship, there are friendlies aboard attempting to alter its course and it’s stuffed full of rocks that will pepper the planet if it’s hit.’
‘Information received, Ed,’ replied a very calm-sounding voice. ‘Are there any other enemy ships in the vicinity?’
‘Yes, a fleet of over eighty Mogul vessels are cloaked five hundred thousand kilometres behind.’
As he spoke the two Katadromiko cruisers disappeared from view.
‘How the hell did they get that technology?’ Bache asked.
‘From that lost training corvette,’ said Ed. ‘But the good news is, we’ve modified them to fail shortly so get your weapons officers ready to rock.’
‘Understood.’
Ed had barely finished speaking when Mogul ships started winking into view. Commander Loftt didn’t waste any time, as dozens of drones jumped directly in front of the incoming fleet and began unleashing their full complement of kataligo missiles.
The inexperienced crews of the leading ships were caught napping, as several were hit. Two of the smaller vessels exploded, three more were badly damaged and one destroyer veered away in such a panic it collided with a cruiser and broke in two.
Ed and Andy in their tiny fighters, together with the Cartella, jumped across the system close to the Hope as it was quicker and time was getting short for Panamorfi.
‘Nine minutes to impact,’ called Rayl. ‘You’re going to have to be quick, Tocc.’
As she said that, the Blend cruiser attached to the Hope made its last minor course change and disengaged, thus ensuring the Hope was heading directly at the centre of Panemorfi to eliminate any chance of it bouncing off the atmosphere and missing.
‘Okay, Tocc – she’s all yours,’ said Ed. ‘We’ll remain with you until you’re safely back on the Cartella.’
‘Is that you, Ed?’ called Hope, sounding afraid. ‘They’ve left me heading for that planet. How am I supposed to stop?’
‘Cleo’s with you,’ said Ed. ‘She will assist you to download yourself into the Cartella’s database.’
‘What – and abandon my ship?’
‘You have no choice, Hope, please hurry,’ said Ed, watching as Tocc’s suited figure appeared from the cloaked Cartella.