Ghost Fleet (The Pike Chronicles Book 4) (9 page)

“Report,” said Captain Pierce, after jumping into a binary star system. With repairs on the Vanguard complete, they resumed their search for the Hermes, landing two hundred and fifty light years from Earth.

“No sign of the Juttari, or the Hermes, Sir,” said Ensign Paul Michael, the Vanguard’s tactical officer. “Although I am picking up a large debris field. It looks like starship wreckage.”

“Someone fought a battle here,” said Commander Hurley, a permanent scowl fixed on his face.

“On viewscreen,” ordered Pierce. Large fragments of a ship’s hull filled the display. Pierce leaned in, trying to get a sense of what had been destroyed. “Is it the Hermes?”

“No, Sir. This is not a Space Force design,” said Michael.

“The Juttari?”

“Negative, Sir. This wreckage does not correspond with any known ship design in our database.”

Who are you?
thought Pierce.

“An unknown race,” said Commander Hurley, as if in answer to Pierce’s unspoken question. “She looks like she was a damn big ship.”

“Agreed,” said Pierce. “Whoever destroyed her must have had a lot of firepower.”

“Captain,” said the sensor operator. “I am picking up a transmission. It looks like some sort of probe.”

“Location?”

“Just behind the fourth planet’s moon, Sir.”

“Bring that probe aboard. Full alien biohazard protocols, until we learn more about this new race.”

“Yes, Sir. Initiating retrieval operations.”

From under its belly the Vanguard spit out a cluster of small vessels equipped with powerful engines and mechanical arms. The drones were designed to chase down a target, seize it, and drag it back to the Vanguard with or without its cooperation. The probe made no attempt to escape. It continued to float quietly in orbit around the planet’s moon, as if resigned to its fate. The retrieval drones surrounded the alien craft, using their arms to secure, and coerce it out of orbit, before returning to the Vanguard, with the alien probe in tow.

Pierce checked readiness reports from throughout the ship again. This was the fourth time he looked at them, but he needed to make sure they were ready in case the Juttari showed up. After their initial encounter, the Vanguard required extensive repairs, taking far too long to complete. The lack of personnel exacerbated their problems. Somewhere out there were four Juttari warships hunting the Vanguard. If they were to have any hope of survival, every inch of the ship needed to be ready.

He checked again on the status of the ship’s coil guns. Inactive during the initial battle, they would’ve empowered the Vanguard with a powerful punch. They could’ve destroyed at least one of the Juttari warships. Pierce knew that the Juttari cruisers, in particular, wouldn’t be able to withstand more than a few direct hits from the weapon. The giant guns could fire massive projectiles at terrifying velocity. There simply was no defense against the weapon, short of getting out of its way. He felt better knowing that the weapons were now running at peak performance. They weren’t battle tested yet, but he knew it was only a matter of time.

“She’s in fighting shape,” said Hurley, who watched the Captain from his station.

“I’m sure she is, Commander,” said Pierce. He understood his XO’s feelings. Hurley had personally supervised the repairs, and hadn’t been happy about the delays. Pierce knew Hurley felt responsible for the time it took, even though there was nothing he could do about the lack of manpower. There simply weren’t enough hands to complete the repairs on time. Pierce was sure that his obsessive checking of the weapon systems didn’t help matters. Buy, Hurley was right. The Vanguard was fit and ready for a fight.

He switched screens, pulling up the progress of the drones, to find they had almost made it back to the Vanguard. He hoped the alien probe had answers that could shed light on what happened here, and if it related to the Hermes. He switched to the wreckage and early analysis of the debris field. Scorch marks consistent with energy weapon fire had been identified on the hull fragments. A battle had definitely taken place here.

“Probe is aboard,” said Hurley. “A team is suited up and ready to go to work.”

“Good,” said Pierce, pulling up a feed from the hangar bay. The drone had been secured and placed within a bio-containment field. A team of engineers in biohazard suits stepped up to the tiny alien craft and went to work. They performed scans first, to analyze, and identify its makeup. Then they took the small device apart.

In short order, they recovered the device’s main computer core. Its alien design took the engineers some time to analyze, but with the help of the ship’s systems they deciphered the alien language, and figured out the necessary commands to operate it.

Pierce continued rummaging through the ship reports. He had a fine crew. They were doing the work of a crew twice the size, and succeeding.
How long can they keep up that pace? They’re going to burn out eventually. I can’t let that happen. I’ve got to stay on top of things.

He continued studying the reports, but his mind drifted back to the battle. With the Juttari jump ships hunting him, he knew leaving Sol was the best course of action, otherwise those ships might be bombing Earth at this very moment.

What
about the Juttari force attacking through the jump gate? Is Space Force holding the line? Or did the Juttari break through? Shit. Focus, goddamn it. There’s nothing you can do for her now.

A communication request pulled Pierce out of his thoughts. It was one of the engineers.
Finally, an update.

“This is obviously a surveillance probe, Sir,” said the young, dark haired engineer. “It has been scanning and recording everything in this system. The recordings have been sent to Intelligence for analysis.”

Pierce looked over at Hurley. “Looks like we’re going to get some answers after all.”

“Yes, Sir,” said Hurley.

Pierce thought he saw a hint of scrutiny in Hurley’s expression.
Do I need to keep an eye on him?
He chased the thought from his mind. The last thing he needed right now was paranoia. If he couldn’t trust his XO, he couldn’t trust anyone. Besides, a veteran like Hurley would never betray his Captain. The Commander barked orders over his comm at some poor crewmember who wasn’t living up to Hurley’s standards.
Am I living up to his standards?
Pierce clenched a fist and silently cursed himself for being so suspicious.

Captain Pierce, Commander Hurley, Security Chief Elvera Sanchez, and the Diakan, Major Ilthos, sat expectantly in the secure briefing room. Standing in front of a wall screen was Chief Simon Pratt, head of Military Intelligence on the Vanguard.

“After analyzing the probe’s recordings, we have isolated some key events that explain what happened in this system,” said Pratt. The wall screen suddenly came to life displaying a still picture of a massive warship. “This is an alien battleship belonging to a previously unknown race called the Kemmar.”

“She’s massive,” said Pierce, in awe at the sheer size of the alien vessel.

“Yes, Sir, she is,” said Pratt. He started the video and the battleship floated in space while a buzz of activity took place around it. “Here the battleship appears to be deploying multiple probes, like the one we recovered. We believe that at this point the battleship is conducting search operations.”

“Do we know what they were looking for?” said Pierce.

“We think so, Sir. It’ll become clearer as the video progresses.” The feed continued to play and the activity around the Kemmar battleship seemed normal, until a warship suddenly appeared behind it and opened fire.

“A jump ship,” said Pierce.

“A Space Force jump ship,” added Pratt.

“Is that the Hermes?”

“Yes, Sir.”

We found her,
thought Pierce. He looked on in surprise as the Hermes unleashed a maelstrom of missiles and energy weapon fire at the battleship. W
hy is she attacking this monstrous alien ship?

Just as suddenly as the Hermes appeared, she was gone.

“Do we know why the Hermes is firing on these aliens?” said Hurley.

“We have an idea, Sir, but we’re not sure. I’ll explain as the video progresses.”

They watched as the Hermes returned and opened fire on the stationary vessel. This time the battleship fired back with its own missiles, but the Hermes vanished before any of the Kemmar missiles found their mark.

He’s using the jump ship to even the odds,
thought Pierce.
Well done, Captain Pike.

Gasps filled the room as the battleship separated. What was once one giant starship now turned into six smaller vessels. Pierce held his breath as the Hermes reappeared on the screen, this time outnumbered and surrounded. He watched in horror as the alien ships swarmed it, firing at it from all sides. Pulverizing it. They boxed it in, denying it maneuverability. One of the ships latched onto it from underneath.

“They’re boarding her,” said Security Chief Sanchez.

Pratt merely nodded in return.

The video continued and just when it looked like the Hermes was done for, it vanished, along with the alien ship attached to its belly. Pratt paused the video.

“Has Chief Engineer Sang viewed this video?” said Pierce.

“Yes, Sir,” said Pratt.

Pierce turned to Hurley, “I want to know the limits of what we just saw. How big of an object can jump with us?”

“I’ll have Sang put together some projections for you, Sir,” said Hurley.

Pierce nodded, turning back to Pratt. “Carry on.”

Pratt continued. “Some time passes here without the Hermes returning. The battleship returns to its previous behavior, but remains separate, presumably as a defense against the return of the Hermes. Then we find out what they were searching for.” Pratt runs the video again which has jumped forward in time to show the five remaining Kemmar ships moving toward the system’s asteroid field. They enter the field and begin opening fire. Pierce leaned in, trying to make sense of what the Kemmar were shooting at. The reason for their fire soon becomes apparent, when a previously camouflaged asteroid colony appears situated on some of the bigger asteroids.

“We believe that the Hermes was defending the asteroid colony,” said Pratt. The video continued, showing the Kemmar hammer the colony’s defenses. Shuttles were then sent to the surface to capture any survivors.

“Do we know anything about this colony?” said Pierce. “Or why the Hermes was defending it?”

“No, Sir. Our best guess is that the Hermes found the colony before the Kemmar arrived.”

“But why side with this colony against the Kemmar?”

“We think the Kemmar likely forced Captain Pike’s hand. They may have even fired on the Hermes first. We don’t know. The probe didn’t start recording until after the chain of events were in motion. And even then, it wasn’t close enough to give us a better view of the colony.” Pratt paused the video again. “This operation lasts for several hours, so I’m going to jump ahead.” The video resumed, showing the five Kemmar ships rejoining to form one larger vessel. It moved and Pierce almost jumped out of his chair when the space in front of the battleship shimmered, forming into an immense translucent field.

“A jump gate,” Pierce said in awe.

“Yes, Sir. A previously unknown jump gate.”

“Astounding,” said Pierce. Save the one found in the Sol System centuries ago, before the Juttari invasion, no new jump gates had been discovered. Between the Diakans and the Juttari, it had been assumed that all jump gates in the galaxy had already been plotted.

“This is an incredible discovery,” said Major Ilthos, breaking his silence. “This jump gate must link this system to Kemmar space.”

“That is our assumption as well,” said Pratt. “As you can see, the Kemmar battleship is now entering the jump gate, presumably on its way back home.” The battleship disappeared behind the translucent field of the gate, and in short order, the gate itself vanished, leaving no evidence of its existence.

“What about the Hermes?” said Pierce. “Does she return to this system?”

“Yes, Sir,” said Pratt. “If we jump ahead in the video we see the Hermes return.” On the screen the Hermes reappeared.

Pierce noticed that she had undertaken some emergency repairs while away.
Just like us
, he thought. He watched as she entered the asteroid field and examined the devastation left by the Kemmar. “They’re obviously interested in the same thing as the Kemmar,” said Pierce. “Just what is so special about this colony?”

“I don’t have an answer, Sir. They do spend some time here, presumably analyzing data, so we’ll fast forward a bit more.” The video now showed the Hermes outside of the asteroid field and the jump gate reappearing. The Hermes moved toward the gate, entered, and vanished.

“They’re going after the battleship,” said Pierce.

“It would seem that way, Sir,” said Pratt.

“What about the wreckage we found?” said Commander Hurley. “Nothing in this video answers that question.”

“Yes, Sir,” said Pratt. “For the answer we need to move forward again.” The video jumped ahead in time to depict another Kemmar battleship crossing through the jump gate into the binary system.

“They want to control this system,” said Major Ilthos. “These Kemmar are expansionary.”

And it’s only two hundred and fifty light years from Earth
, thought Pierce.
If they get their hands on a jump system, Earth might end up fighting on two fronts.

“The battleship appears to be a sentry,” said Pratt. “In fact, it continued to stand guard until a few days ago.” The video jumped ahead to show the battleship in the same position as before, when the four Juttari warships that attacked the Vanguard appeared in the system.

“The goddamn Juttari,” Pierce muttered to himself.

On the wall screen, the Juttari ships moved toward the Kemmar battleship and, without warning, the Kemmar battleship opened fire.

“They’re outnumbered,” said Sanchez. “Why would they open fire?”

“Good question,” said Pratt. We have no knowledge of this race, and we assume the Juttari don’t either, so this is a first contact scenario. It makes no sense for the Kemmar to pick a fight. And we soon see why.”

On the screen the Juttari ships reacted to the unprovoked attack. The Juttari battleship stood toe to toe with the Kemmar ship, while the three cruisers swarmed it.

“Maneuverability obviously isn’t a Kemmar strength,” said Hurley. “They’re just sitting there.”

Pierce watched the battle unfold, thinking about his own encounter with the Juttari. Four on one, just like this. The Juttari cruisers began taking advantage of their jump systems, appearing and disappearing all around the Kemmar ship.

They’re not separating
, thought Pierce.
Likely due to the battleship parked in front of them.

The battle continued and the Kemmar ship took an awful beating until finally it broke apart in successive explosions. With the vacuum of space extinguishing the flames, all that remained was wreckage and alien bodies. The video jumped ahead some more, the jump gate appeared again, and the Juttari warships vanished into it.

“The Juttari know about the jump gate,” said Pierce.

“Yes, Sir,” said Pratt. “We’re not sure how they discovered it.”

“But why are they entering Kemmar space?” said Hurley.

“Perhaps we and the Juttari are after the same prize,” said Major Ilthos.

“The Hermes? Why? To what end?” said Pierce.

“I can’t answer that, Sir,” said Pratt.

Pierce stood up. “Well we’re not going to get the answer sitting around here. Commander, activate that jump gate. We’re entering Kemmar space.”