Machine Gods (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 2) (26 page)

“
Very well, proceed.
Send in the scouts,” he ordered curtly.

The officers in the
CI
C worked like a well-oiled machine, and
in less than a minute, the two T’Kari ships moved toward the Rift.
Admiral Anderson watched them carefully as they moved closer and
closer until they finally reached the distortion.

Here goes nothing.

It all happened as
if in slow motion, each of the craft touching the tear in space,
and then vanishing in a brief flash of light. There were no noises,
ripples, or shimmer from the Rift, just the emptiness that had been
there before. Not that there would have been a notable effect from
inside the ship out in space. Even so, Anderson was concerned. He
looked at the rest of the force, and the final two T’Kari scout
ships waiting in the center of the fleet. Nothing
happened.

“
Uh, Admiral, we’re
not getting a signal.”

Anderson looked at Captain Parker.

“
What do you mean,
‘no signal’?”

The
C
aptain of the flagship appeared unfazed
at his comments and pointed to the Rift.

“
A short burst
transmission confirming their arrival is the last thing we
received. Then silence.”

“What about their status indicators and the beacons
they took with them?”

Captain Parker
raised her shoulder and shrugged.

“
Nothing, Admiral.
Either they are unable, or they are unwilling to
respond.”

Anderson felt a familiar chill running up his
spine.

No
signal? What if something on the other side destroyed them?
This
Helios Gateway could be
no less than a tunnel into the heart of a star.

“
Could they have
travel
ed somewhere that could have
destroyed their vessels?”

Commander D'Vani, the Chief Engineer shook his head
and answered for her.

“
No, Admiral. The
signal we received was an automated response that was triggered
upon arrival and after running a series of almost instant
diagnostics. There is a partially damaged feed packet, but the
computer is having a hard time with it.”

Admiral Anderson shook his head angrily.

Damned
typical
,
he thought angrily as he started to pace. It was an old and
annoying habit, yet he found it hard to think when simply standing
still. Finally, he stopped and pointed to the communications
officer.

“
Get me
T’Kron!”

The young officer
wheeled about in her chair and motioned with her hands as she
established a link with the waiting T’Kari ships. The images of
their commander appeared.

“
Admiral,”
T’Kron said through his translator
unit.

Anderson
took a short breath and glanced back at the main
screen and the Helios Gateway. The sound of voices from the
officers in the CIC increased in volume as the situation turned
from a holding pattern to one of possible danger. Alarms sounded at
multiple stations, yet Admiral Anderson blocked them all out. They
were something for the ship’s crew to concern themselves with. As
he looked back to the communications screen, he did spot the
weapons indicators that showed the warships weapon systems were
being charged up as a matter of course. He closed his eyes briefly,
took in a breath, and looked into the eyes of T’Kron.

“
We’ve lost contact
with your scouts. Do you have anything that can help
us?”

T’Kron seemed
unconcerned, but he did turn and speak with somebody in the
background before answering his question.

“
No, Admiral.
Something must be stopping their signal. They must be in trouble.
We must send in the fleet to help them.”

Admiral Anderson
shook his head once more, “No, T’Kron. Two scout ships is one
thing. I cannot risks thousands of crew and marines on two scouts.
I need more information before we send in more.”

T’Kron tilted his
head slightly to the side and spoke in his own tongue. The
translators did nothing, and he could only assume he was speaking
with his own people. He spoke in an agitated tone, and the shapes
of two, perhaps three other T’Kari could be seen moving about.
Voices in the CIC caught his ear, and he turned to look directly at
the Captain of the ship.

“
Admiral, the T’Kari
ships are breaking formation,” announced Captain Parker.

“
I
think they’re heading for the Rift
itself.”

Anderson
turned his attention to the main screen and
watched as the two ships used their maneuvering engines to break
formation. He brought down his fist on the nearest console unit.
The heavy impact shocked the young ensign that was working nearby.
He looked back at the communications screen and the face of
T’Kron.

“
You need to
maintain your position, T’Kron. If there is something that could
risk the fleet on the other side, I need to know before I send in
more ships.”

Instead, the alien
shook his head, a gesture he must have learned from his human
contacts.

“
No, Admiral. My
people are few, and these Exiles are my brothers. We have watched
this place for generations. I will not leave them to their fates.
Either I go after them, or they will be lost and abandoned by my
people, and by yours. No, you can join me, or wait and see if we
return.”

He
moved away from the display and concentrated on
his own crew before returning for just a few seconds.

“My Exiles are revered amongst the T’Kari. The
consequences of leaving them to die alone could be…uh…problematic.”
Then he was gone.

Anderson was
angry
, yet with no way of forcing T’Kron
to listen to him, he felt compelled to act. He turned his attention
to his own forces that were waiting in a perfect stationary
formation of warships. Strung out behind the Alliance ships was the
slightly larger formation of transports and science vessels. The
only movement to be seen was that of the two T’Kari ships breaking
formation and being followed by two pairs of lightning space
superiority fighters. Anderson looked at them, knowing that any
decision he made would risk the lives of thousands of men and
women. There was also the chance that leaving the T’Kari to go on
alone would cause a long-term problem for the two peoples, and one
that could make New Charon, or T’Karan as they called it,
untenable.

You
idiot
, T’Kron, if this causes
casualties, I’ll have your head!

With that last
thought
, he reached for the intercom unit
and connected directly to the commanders of every single ship in
the fleet.

“
This is Admiral
Anderson; prepare to move through the Rift. All ships to battle
stations.”

Captain Parker
looked confused.
She spoke to her XO and
then turned to Admiral Anderson.

“
You want us to go
in? Without sending drones or scouts in first?” she
asked.

Anderson nodded
slowly.

“Yes, there is one thing worse than losing the
T’Kari out here, and that is losing them because we refused to act.
Do it.”

The
C
aptain moved from her position in the
center of the room and nearer to the Admiral. Though slightly
shorter, her presence was commanding, and she refused to back down,
not yet.

“Admiral, I must protest. We could be sending the
entire fleet into a star. We must obtain more information
first!”

Admiral Anderson shook his head and beckoned for
General Daniels to come away from the screen he was watching. The
three of them stood in silence as more reports came in from the
fleet.

“I agree with the Captain. The fact that we’ve just
lost contact with two T’Kari ships is information enough, is it
not?”

Captain Parker’s
attention was on something else. She was watching the Rift on the
mainscreen. It flickered and flashed as the two T’Kari ships made
their final approach. She lifted her hand and pointed to the
distortion.

“We’re too late!”

As if
they had never been there, the two T’Kari ships
vanished. Unlike the previous two ships, the transmissions
continued to be sent and were displayed in small windows on the
main screen. The three senior officers watched in interest as the
feed cleared slightly to show a large dark object surrounded by a
red color. Admiral Anderson grimaced at the sight.

“
Tell me that isn’t
a star!”

Then the image
cleared up as quickly as it had arrived. The outer hull of the
nearest T’Kari ship filled the screen. Admiral Anderson started to
relax, that was until the ship moved away and revealed a vast open
red star system filled with objects. The quality was still poor and
digital interference left odd artifacts and tearing throughout the
image. At first the large shape to the left looked like a celestial
object, and just as he could make out the shape, the video feed
froze and then vanished.

“What the hell was that?” he snapped, “Bring it
back!”

The
CI
C burst into activity as the situation
changed in a matter of seconds. The technical crew worked on the
communications traffic while the rest did last minute adjustments
to prepare for whatever might lie on the other side.

“
Crew to your
stations!” barked the XO in a gruff voice. The sound echoed
throughout the open space via the wall mounted public
address
system; it would be repeated
throughout the entire vessel. “I want fighters in the air. All
ships open your gun ports and prepare for battle,” he
added.

T
he image from the corrupted video feed returned to the
mainscreen. It filled a third of the unit, yet drew the attention
of anybody that looked upon it. It showed three T’Kari ships
arrayed in a line and facing toward a large pentagonal shaped
object. A bright line ran from this shape and intersected the
T’Kari vessel. What caught all of them by surprise was that the
T’Kari ship had been cut in two by whatever the line
was.

Gods!
Anderson thought
bitterly.
When will this all
end?

He looked to the
crew and noted they were concentrating on their jobs, all but him,
Captain
Parker, and General
Daniels.
What can I
do?

A corrupted video feed displayed on the main screen.
It was T’Kron.

“Admiral, we have encountered the Helions. We need
your assistance, they are…”

The image vanished
and was replaced by static. Anderson closed his eyes and exhaled,
fully knowing the ramification of his next words. He nodded toward
Captain Parker and General Daniels.

“
We have no choice.
We have to go forward!”

Captain Parker looked at him and nodded slowly. She
understood the difficult decision he had just made, but not even
she could quite imagine exactly what they would find.

Here we
go
,
he thought, as the vessel shuddered slightly. It was the
feeling provided by the main engines as they powered up. The crew
was already strapped in, and two Navy officers beckoned to the
commanders to take their place before the engines fully activated.
Admiral Anderson needed no persuasion and moved to the left-hand
side where he was helped into a side-facing seat. By the time
General Daniels was in position, the engines were on full burn and
the ship moving towards the Rift.

“
Admiral, this is
the right decision. We have an obligation to the T’Kari on both
sides of the Rift.”

Anderson nodded.

“
Yes. It isn’t the
T’Kari that worry me though,” he answered before Daniels could say
any more.

He looked about the
CI
C and at the men and women of the
Alliance Navy, most of who had never known war; certainly not like
the kind of struggles he and the General had experienced. He had
watched ships explode after being struck by multiple nuclear
warheads, had recoiled in horror as vessels were exploded by the
colossal power of particle weapons. Even worse, he had seen the
carnage at first hand when two capital ships had been forced to
fight long duels with railguns that left hundreds dead or
maimed.

It’s my
crew
,
he thought ruefully to himself.
If we have to fight, then we’ll fight like Admiral
Jarvis.

“Admiral, thirty seconds!” called out Captain
Parker.

Anderson simply
nodded; watching as the shape of the Rift loomed ever closer. In
front of him a holographic model of the fleet appeared directly
over the central table unit. It was positioned so that the
commanders could monitor and coordinate the actions of multiple
warships in military situation. The Rift flickered and flashed. The
Admiral held his breath as ANS Victory, the flagship of the
Alliance-T’Kari Helios Expedition moved through.

So it begins.

The Great Uprising went by many different names over
the history of the Alliance. While technically a civil war, there
were many colonies that managed to avoid the fighting entirely. To
these people, the Uprising was a common term. Those more closely
associated with the terrible bloodshed on Proxima Prime, Kerberos,
Euryale, and Terra Nova referred to the period as the Civil War or
the Proxima Emergency. The least remembered name was the
Revolutionary War, a term only ever used by the few surviving
members of the Echidna Union.