A Faded Star 3: The Battle for Lashmere by Michael Freeport

Author:Michael Freeport [Freeport, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-01-31T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

“He’s late,” Bendel observed. Victorious, along with the rest of the fleet remnants floated in deep space between solar systems, waiting for Gorgon to arrive.

Stokes rose from his command chair and clasped his hands behind his back. “So he is, Commander. What’s our fuel status?”

“Sixty percent, sir,” Bendel said.

“How many hops to the Ulef system?”

“Six, sir,” Bendel replied.

“We’ll wait another hour before moving on. I want you to detach another stealth corvette to wait here in case he arrives. Refuel it to make sure it can evade if needed.”

“Aye, sir,” Bendel said. He began passing orders to Lokin, detailing Griffon to remain behind at the rendezvous point.

The time passed slowly, but Gorgon did not arrive. “Spool up the point to point drive, Mister Bendel. Let’s make our next hop.”

“Aye, sir,” Bendel said. His eyes were fixed. It was obvious Bendel wanted to go back to search for Patho and Gorgon, but the rest of the fleet needed to stay together.

The growing hum of Victorious’ FTL system powering up filled the air. Stokes stared at the point where Patho should arrive, willing the tiny ship to appear. He’d left the man alone, with no means of escape if the Woduur cornered him. Stokes ground his teeth in frustration.

He nearly ordered two of the corvettes back to the system where he’d left Patho to investigate. It wasn’t possible. Until he’d seen to the safety of the rest of the fleet, he could not risk giving away their position to the Woduur. He had to get his people to safety.

He looked up at the main plot, trying to keep his anger and frustration out of his voice. “Jump ship as calculated, Exec,” he said.

“Aye, sir,” Bendel replied. “Helm jump ship.”

Victorious slid through its jump ring and emerged, twenty-five lightyears away, at the edge of a star system the star charts indicated was the home of a gas giant capable of supplying fuel to the fleet.

“Jump complete, sir,” Bendel reported. “All ships have completed their jumps. No damage or malfunctions reported.”

“Full active scans, Exec,” Stokes ordered. “What’s out there?”

“Scanning now, sir,” Bendel said. A few seconds later, “Nothing on the initial scan. A full scan of the system will take about twenty minutes, but we don’t have any power signatures that could be ships or a base of any kind.”

“Good. Make for orbit of the gas giant. Ahead full. Have the fleet assume a defensive formation just in case we run into anything. Also, have the fleet do a full combat launch of the drones. We’re starting to get close to Ulef territory, and the last time I saw them, they were doing their level best to kill me.”

“Aye, sir. Captain Charis reports no Woduur within range of his sensor net.”

“Excellent. Begin refueling operations and start gathering materials for repairs. I want to get to the Ulef system at full battle readiness. Also, draw up a schedule of upgrades. If we can get the railgun upgrades done while we’re here, let’s do it.”

“Aye, sir,” Bendel said.

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