Harbinger by Charles R. Case

Author:Charles R. Case [Case, Charles R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Published: 2018-08-13T22:00:00+00:00

27

“I‘m getting power signatures throughout the alien vessel, Commander,” Mezner reported, her voice hoarse from stress.

Grimms gritted his teeth. The last thing we need is for that asshole to come back online while we’re sitting dead in the water. “Is it repairing itself, or just rebooting some system?”

The ensign took a minute to reply. “It looks like they have a repair system comparable to the Raven, sir.”

“Shit. How are our repairs coming?” he asked, staring down at the holo image of the Vitas ship slowly spinning.

“Unknown, sir. With Cora down, we can only estimate, but I would say we’re more than an hour from being up,” Mezner said, then leaned in to her console. “Sir! The enemy is sending out a signal. It looks like a communication, but it’s not any coding I recognize.”

“It’s broadcasting? Give me a scan of the system, use whatever power you need. We need to see if there is another one of these ships close enough to get that communication,” Grimms said, his stomach dropping at the thought of another of these ships coming after them.

“Aye, sir. Scanning now,” she said, getting to work.

“Sir, I’m getting an anomaly several thousand kilometers behind the Vitas ship. It looks like a gravity well is forming,” Hon reported, slightly panicked.

“A gravity well? Like another ship?” Grimms asked for clarification.

“No, sir. More like a large asteroid, but it’s growing in intensity,” Hon said, his eyes wide. “Oh, shit.”

The ship lurched to the side slightly as it began to pull toward the anomaly.

“It’s growing exponentially, sir. We’re being sucked in,” Hon shouted.

“Connors, do we have anything in the drives?” Grimms asked, already knowing the answer.

“No, sir. Gravitic drives are still offline,” Connors said, trying them anyway and getting no response.

“Sir, the gravity field is collapsing in on itself,” Hon said in disbelief. “It’s forming a black hole.”

“Shit! I need options people, anything,” Grimms barked out, gripping the holo table.

Before anyone could respond, the ship leveled out.

“It’s gone, sir. It just collapsed and disappeared,” Hon said, looking up from his console, wide-eyed.

“The transmission has stopped, sir. I… I think they just sent a message through a wormhole,” Mezner said with wonder.

“They used a wormhole to send a message? How did they form it?” Grimms asked.

Connors spoke up. “It would be an effective form of FTL communication, sir.”

“I understand that, but I want to know how they formed it at all,” Grimms said with frustration.

“I don’t know, sir. The Vitas ship showed a spike in power, but I don’t see how it was enough to do that,” Mezner said.

Grimms growled and nearly spat in frustration. “So, we should assume that they have contacted their fleet, and there are reinforcements coming? If anything, they will know the Raven can stand against them, and what our capabilities are.”

“Sir, the Vitas ship’s weapons are showing power fluctuations. I think they are attempting to repair them,” Mezner said.

“How many shots do we have left, Hon?”

Hon double-checked. “Nine, sir.”

“Find a firing solution, but hold,” Grimms ordered. “Let’s hope our engines come online before their guns do.

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