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“Gaborott IV, Aztaratha, Zaranant, and Aruvusq,” repeated Navarch Dromm.
“That’s the intelligence from one of our resources,” said Alvon.
Dromm looked to Jeck. “Do you trust them, Captain Murtsharn?”
“I do,” Jeck said without hesitation. “They would gain nothing by sending us on a wild goose chase.”
Dromm leaned back in his seat, pondering the news. All were looking at the star chart Alvon had called up. Red arrows indicated where the Ditufgne had been sighted.
“The problem this presents,” began Dromm, “is that we can’t just meet them there. That’s a staging area. The ring-ships won’t be there. If we split our forces four ways, we will not be very effective wherever the Ditufgne show up.”
“Do we know how large a force we have now?” asked Alvon.
“I have a count being pulled,” Dromm said. “Good news is we have more ships that will be effective in a fight with the Ditufgne than we initially anticipated, thanks to the unexpected assistance from the Gaeitsu-aqin. I still have no idea how Avra manages to communicate with them.”
“Xez is rather amazing,” remarked Ashira.
“I need to consult my staff,” said Dromm. “We need to figure out what the best way to approach this might be. Any suggestions from you lot?”
“I have one,” Jeck said.
“Go ahead,” Dromm encouraged.
Jeck arose and pointed to the known Ditufgne gathering point. “Four systems within long-distance observational range. One Human, two Zathru, one Ravusq. If the Ditufgne’s intent is to punish all our races and send some of our peoples to the void, it doesn’t make sense to focus all strikes on one race. No matter how powerful they are, they know that confrontations with us will whittle them down. To my mind, that means that the Human world, Gaborott IV, is the least likely target.”
“Nallatrum?” Alvon questioned the Xorcerizt.
Nallatrum looked at the map thoughtfully. “I cannot disagree with Captain Murtsharn’s logic. He is correct: the likely target is either the Zathru or the Ravusq.”
Admiral Dromm nodded. “Three targets. But even still, we will not be able to stage in a single spot to be ready for any of them.”
“That may not be entirely true,” Nallatrum said.
“Do tell,” Admiral Dromm requested.
Alvon had not known what to expect of this meeting. When Jeck had brought him the information from Shi’tra and his crew, they’d debated going to Navarch Dromm or to Gavana Ruk Ruv Ruq. Given that it would lead to a military operation, they’d taken it to the Navarch.
Alvon, Tara, Jeck, and Ashira had found Dromm holding a conversation with Nallatrum. After the initial presentation of the data, they were debating how to proceed.
“Now that we know where they are staging a forward element, we can monitor them,” Nallatrum said. “It’s possible we can make use of that to determine which system they intend to hit, with enough advanced notice to get IITA forces in place.”
“Can you monitor them better than we can?” asked Dromm.
“It’s not that simple,” Nallatrum replied. “From hyperspace, you have no means by which to track anything in normal space. From warp, we can.”
“How is that possible?” asked Jeck.
Nallatrum grinned. “I cannot provide the details because I am not an expert in warp travel. Suffice it to say, because warp travel doesn’t remove us from normal space, but instead warps it around our ships, we can still track objects in normal space.”
“Can you be tracked in warp space?” asked Ashira.
“Perhaps,” Nallatrum said. “But I am not aware of such.”
“That explains it,” said Jeck. “That’s how you have managed to arrive on the scene during a Ditufgne attack more than once. You could track them once they arrived in normal space even while you were at warp.”
“Yes,” agreed Nallatrum.
“But you cannot track them when they travel via wormhole,” said Jeck.
“No,” Nallatrum replied. “But, like hyperspace, wormhole travel takes you out of normal space.”
“This gets very confusing,” Alvon remarked to Tara.
She chuckled. “It does. I once dated a hyperspatial communications engineer. I never understood in the least what she was talking about whenever she discussed work with me.”
“Are you proposing,” Jeck began, “to send ships to the systems where the Ditufgne are likely to strike and see, from warp, if the Ditufgne go to take a closer look?”
“Exactly that,” said Nallatrum.
“Which implies that your ships cannot be tracked in warp,” remarked Ashira.
“Or at least,” Jeck began, “not by the Ditufgne, nor by us.”
“That’s presuming, of course, that the Ditufgne will make a closer pass to one of those systems,” Navarch Dromm commented. “But they may not.”
“That’s true,” agreed Nallatrum. “But shy of going and asking them where they plan to strike, this is probably our best bet.”
Alvon had noticed, as time passed, Nallatrum appeared to be much more at ease talking to the members of the IITO and IITA. It seemed as if they were on more equal ground.
“I need to confer with my staff—and the IITO,” stated Dromm. “Once we do that, we should have a better idea of what resources we have and where to place them.”
“I just hope we can stop the ring-ships,” said Alvon. “Before any more planets suffer the fate of Kamatsa.”
“That’s what Nallatrum and I were discussing,” Dromm said.
“Oh?” questioned Alvon.
“We were able to establish communication with the people of Kamatsa via the small, remaining wormhole energy between where the planet was, and where it was sent,” said Nallatrum.
“The ionization finally cleared?” Tara asked.
“Yes,” Nallatrum said. “They inform us that they are still counting the dead. Many of their cities collapsed in transit. They are in orbit around a sun not too dissimilar to the one they were taken from. The people of Kamatsa believe they will be able to recover from the damage of transit and continue to live.”
“Can the portal somehow be opened again?” asked Alvon.
Nallatrum sighed. “Unlikely. First, the energy required to open it in the is like nothing we have ever worked with. Second, it was a folding of space-time different from wormholes. Neither warp travel nor hyperspace travel are remotely its equivalent. Third, there is no way of knowing if a two-way means can be established. Our scientists, and many of yours, I suspect, will investigate this. But as of now, the mysteries are greater than the answers.”
“Have they been able to explore the solar system around them?” asked Tara.
“Yes,” Nallatrum remarked. “But they are the only planet inside it. There are not even gas giants. They cannot calculate the distance to the next star without sending a dedicated probe to the edge of their solar system.”
“At least, if the Ditufgne do send another world through the void, they won’t be alone,” said Tara.
“But they will,” Nallatrum said. “We believe that the ring-ships, every time they are engaged, will open a new portal to a new lone solar system. Thus, they send every world into its own isolated place in the void—like their homeworld is.”
Alvon swallowed hard. He had known that before. But hearing it again just made it that much darker and more real.
“All the more reason,” Dromm began, “why we need to do everything in our power to be ready for them. While we don’t wish to destroy an entire sector of space blowing up the ring-ships, we cannot allow them to send anyone else to the void. Otherwise, the whole of the IITO and IITA is for naught.”
Alvon took a deep breath and calmed himself. “Well then, we have work to do. Let’s plan our next move.”