Shadow of the Blue Ring (12 page)

Davidson activated the program and used a few vocal commands to activate the simulation. He was now in control of the simulated Voronian military in an attempt to defend the city from marauding Vulian forces.

“So you can control your planet’s military and attempt to lead them to victory?” Julio asked, “I think it sounds like a good challenge for anyone wanting to become an officer. Why exactly was it frowned upon?”

“Because of this…”

Davidson reset the simulation and changed a few of the settings. Where there had previously been Vulian hovercraft and kosus walkers, there now stood a collection of Suran gunships and raptor walkers.

“I don’t get it…” said Ansare, looking a little puzzled at the unusual match-up, “. . . the Surans are one of our closest allies, why would you want to simulate a battle between these two races?”

“The idea of the game was to test a player’s ability to command any military force against any opponent,” said Davidson, “when admiral Shenji had a team redevelop it into a war simulation, he felt it would be an excellent test of a person’s leadership and strategic skills and he recently convinced the other admirals to implement it at all of our training facilities and on all of our warships.”

“I can see why there are some who wouldn’t want something like this out there though,” said Ansare, “this could be seen as something that could stir up tensions between races and incite violence.”

“We have no such intentions, admiral Ansare,” said Davidson, “this simulation is strictly for training and for strategic purposes. Because of it’s realism, it can identify weaknesses in the military forces of each of the alliance races and allow our officers the experience of commanding forces they would never get to command in real life. I would suggest that if any of you have the time that you give it a try.”

It was an interesting addition to the ship, there was no doubt about that. A couple of the team didn’t look overly impressed with the content but James was going to be sure to give it a try when he had a few hours free. He hadn’t had a true test of his skills in a long time and it could be useful for keeping him sharp, especially during the many long and boring patrol missions that he would likely have to endure again once he returned from the Blue Ring sector.

Davidson’s tour of the ship finally finished as they reached the bridge. James recognised all of his old command crew present, Jason Daniels on the helm, Sergey Ivanov taking up his position on tactical and his communications officer Elena Stevens in her usual position. The old crew was all there, the only thing that had changed was the surroundings.

“Captain on the bridge!” came the usual exclamation from Jason Daniels as James and his team made their presence on the bridge known, “welcome aboard the Evening Star sir.”

“As you were people,” said James, letting them get back to their jobs. He had always found these formalities a little pointless but he went along with them anyway, especially as he had an admiral on board. Even if he could get away with a lot more that he might have done had it been any of the other admirals, he still thought it best to make a good impression for Davidson to see.

“As you can see, the bridge is every bit as impressive as the rest of the ship,” said Davidson, “in addition to your crew and all the new features, we have also installed a cutting-edge virtual intelligence program into the ship’s main computer which will assist all the officers aboard with their jobs and will assist you with issuing your orders to the rest of the crew.”

“There are some of us who feel the VI program is a waste of resources and an unnecessary addition to the ship,” Ivanov interjected, “I personally think it devalues the crew by taking away part of the job we were trained for as officers.”

“The talents of this crew will not go to waste, lieutenant Ivanov,” said Davidson, “this program is designed to assist you and to make your lives easier and trust me when I say you will need every resource you can get on a mission like this, even if it is rather experimental.”

It did feel as if they were taking away the human element of the command of his ship, no ship in any of the fleets in the alliance had ever used a VI system to assist in the command of the ship. They had always relied on the total ability of the crew and the captain to run the ship effectively and James would continue to do so. Other than that one hitch, James could not think of one bad word to say about the new ship that he had been given, it was effectively built to perfection. If the suspicions of the council and the admirals were correct, they would certainly need every asset they could get once they passed beyond the borders of the Valoran and made their way out into the uncharted Blue Ring sector.

“I guess I shouldn’t be taking up any more of your time then,” said Davidson, “from here on out, everything falls on your shoulder, James. I will return to the Titan and keep a watch over things from there. I wish you all good luck and I hope for your safe return and a swift end to these disappearances.”

With those words, Davidson turned and exited the bridge, finally leaving James and his crew to their own business. The mission could finally begin.

“You heard the man,” said James, “everyone to your stations. Bring the primary engines online and prepare to leave dock as soon as the admiral’s shuttle is away.”

“Aye sir,” said Daniels, who was certainly not hiding his excitement at getting to fly the most advanced ship in the fleet for the first time, “bringing engines online, estimate full power in three minutes.”

“Captain, I have my concerns about this new VI system,” Ivanov said, his disapproval of it’s instalment clearly grinding on him, “I do not approve of the admirals’ decision to use an untested technology on this ship’s bridge. We have no experience with technology like this and it could have a detrimental effect on the crew here on the bridge if it doesn’t work out.”

“We’ll leave it offline for now,” said James, “I’ll examine it later and see if it’s going to be any use. This is one of the best crews in the fleet and I trust that we can get by on good old human instinct.”

With the ship powered up, Davidson’s shuttle exited the hangar bay and returned to the Titan. That was the cue for them to get the mission started. Daniels started the main engines and detached the ship from the construction dock. The exciting and dangerous mission that James had been craving for so long was finally underway and even if the circumstances surrounding it had been less than convenient, it was a relief to finally get going. All of the old team had settled themselves in, taking up the spare seats in the currently unoccupied posts on the bridge. With the formalities out of the way, even Saavoy and Kosare, both of whom had been reluctant to join up, looked to be warming up to the prospect of their assignment.

“We’ve cleared the docks,” Daniels announced to the crew, “we’re clear and ready for warp.”

“Then you know what to do helmsman,” said James, sitting back in his new captain’s chair, “lock in the co-ordinates the council sent to us and lets get going.”

“Aye sir, engaging warp engines now.”

The once more familiar sight of the ship jumping forward into hyperspace flashed before them. Leaving the Terran system behind, the Evening Star was underway on the long journey out into the uncharted reaches of the Blue Ring sector.

“I thought we would never get going,” Kosare said with a sigh of relief, “your admirals can’t half talk. It’s something like thirty-six hours into the Blue Ring from here though isn’t it? That’s a pretty long time to just be waiting around.”

“It’ll give us some time just to settle into the ship,” said James, “and besides, I think there are a few things we need to go over before we arrive. If we could all make our way down to the briefing room, I would like to go over all the intel the council forwarded to us, see if we can’t dig up anything interesting.”

“You sound as if you don’t trust them,” said Julio, “you think maybe they’ve been holding something back?”

“It is possible,” said Ansare, “I got the distinct feeling that Artennes knew more than he was letting on when we spoke on the council ship. I think there is a lot more to this mission than we have been told.”

“I agree, there are a few things that just don’t add up,” said James, “I want to go over the details and make sure that we haven’t missed anything. There is far too much at stake for us to be going out there unprepared.”

Ever since the moment James had been told about the situation in the Blue Ring sector, he had known that there was something a little out of place about the whole situation. With the ship at warp and on course, James left his command to lieutenant Ivanov and lead his crew down to the briefing room. Gathering his crew around the briefing table, he opened up the data package from the council and displayed the contents on the projector.

“We all know the mission, we all know what the council wants from us…” James began, “. . . but what we don’t know is why… ? What were the Churians doing out there in the first place? What made the council send ships into the middle of an uncharted region without any foreseeable reason and why are they getting so defensive when asked about the situation? Jaiden, you work at the archives, what can you tell us about the Blue Ring sector? What do we know?”

“Very little I’m afraid,” said Kosare, “like the admirals said, the region is almost completely uncharted, I doubt we even have a dozen systems from the region surveyed within our databases. The only thing we really know about the sector is that it has a spectacular ringed nebula at it’s heart. The Jaiytids did have a name for it but those wonderfully original cartographers in Tolassa have simply dubbed it the ‘Blue Ring nebula’ and that’s how the sector gets it’s name. Other than that, we really don’t have a lot to go on.”

“I doubt there is anyone in the alliance who could tell us much about this place,” said Ansare, “ever since the downfall of the Antalaea empire, very few ships have even entered the sector and we all know what happened to those that went in recently. This area is very much the wilderness of space.”

“So what exactly do we know about the location that we’re headed for?” Saavoy asked, “did the council manage to get a fix on where the ships actually went missing or are we going to have to do the searching ourselves?”

“As far as we know, the Churian ships dropped off the grid barely a few hours after reaching their destination,” said James, “its a remote system with one planet in the life-zone of it’s star but from what I can gather it is no more than a frigid world that is barely capable of supporting life. It has a breathable atmosphere, liquid water and a few plant species but there is hardly anything to really recommend it.”

“Seems like a lot of trouble for such an unremarkable system,” said Morelli, “you did mention that Artennes had been to Raylia and spoken to the Iyacs machine though. I imagine he probably wanted to learn about the old empires and the old territories of the Antalaea empire. You have to remember, two of the biggest breakthroughs in our alliance’s history have come from uncovering Jaiytid technology and one of them was by us.”

“You think Artennes found something of a similar potential in the Blue Ring then?” Isha asked. It was something James had also suspected that this might be the case too.

“That’s exactly what I think,” said Morelli, “if Artennes was to learn of the location of anything that could be of major value to the alliance, I think he would want to recover it. You have to remember that even if he is choosing to be secretive about all of this, he still has the best interests of the alliance at heart and he is continuing to do a very good job of holding the alliance together. I think Artennes has uncovered something out there in the Blue Ring and it has turned out to be far more dangerous that he suspected it might be.”

“It’s possible…” said Ansare, “. . . but the manner of the incidents does not fit the theory. We’ve had ships go missing in three different regions so far so this cannot be attributed to a simple discovery on an old Jaiytid planet.”

“All four attacks fit the same profile, the only difference between each one is the location that it took place,” said James, “it seems to me as if we have an unknown enemy that has been hunting down and destroying ships entering this region of space or at least getting close to the borders. Something with a grudge against Jaiytid descended races I would bet.”

“You still suspect the ancient Xerions don’t you?” Isha could tell exactly what he was thinking, “but there hasn’t been any sign of them in centuries, in fact there is no evidence to suggest that they even exist anymore, nor any of the other factions of the empire.”

“The four races of the Antalaea empire were not the only races that existed within the galaxy,” said James, “Iyacs said that there were once hundreds but that the conquests of the factions, wars between the other races and eventually the downfall of the empire meant that many of them are now unaccounted for. If it is not the Xerions, then it is possible that one of these others might be behind this. With a few hundred years to rebuild after the downfall, who is to say one of them hasn’t recovered enough strength to suddenly become a power in the galaxy again?”

“There is one other possibility,” said Kosare, “this could be the work of another Jaiytid descended race. Remember, the Jaiytid faction encompassed thousands of planets throughout the galaxy and we have only accounted for a few of them since the downfall. So far we have sixteen Jaiytid descended races plus Humans who are more distantly related to them. That is a very small percentage of what there could potentially be. Who is to say that somewhere beyond the borders of known space, there isn’t another race that progressed just like the Tolians did? In fact, for all we know, there could be another Vulian empire out there.”

“Let’s hope that isn’t the case,” said James, “one Vulian empire is bad enough. Still, we’ll need to be on full alert the moment we cross into the Blue Ring sector. Even if we are coming prepared this time, this enemy has taken out too many of our ships already and we can’t underestimate what they could be capable of.”

If the alliance continued to suffer these attacks, all of the hard work that had gone into rebuilding the alliance and the efforts of each race to rebuild their fleets would go to waste. Each time there had been an attack, it had been closer and closer to one of the alliance worlds. With Naisus, Tolis and Comris all within relatively close proximity to the borders of the Blue Ring, it was vital that the attacks be stopped before the enemy reached one of the home systems of an alliance race. A powerful and unknown enemy showing up at an unprepared Tolis would almost certainly spell the end for the entire alliance.