Ascendant of Berongar by Anthony James

Author:Anthony James [James, Anthony]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-08-17T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

The Demagaron was packing a lot of processing hardware, which didn’t take long to complete the few octillion calculations required to activate the ternium drive. With a shudder and a depthless rumble of bass, the propulsion fired.

Although not using one of the spaceship’s SRT modules to complete the journey, the duration was so short that the transitions were effectively stacked. The resulting discomfort was preferable to that resulting from a gateway transit, though in no way was it an enjoyable experience for Flint.

Two for the price of one, he thought in irritation as he flexed his numb fingers. His mind went briefly to the annihilator Takrivon, on which every lightspeed transition had – for whatever reason – been smooth and almost pleasant.

A glance was enough to reassure Flint that the command console readouts were all where they needed to be. Usually, he would have requested maximum acceleration, but on this occasion, he pushed the warship to a low velocity and then held it steady.

“Status reports!” Flint shouted.

The lethargy from the transitions should have started fading by now, especially with a recent shot of Frenziol to show it the door. For some reason, the thickness in his head and aching in his limbs remained stubbornly in place.

“Waiting on sensors,” said Becerra. “They’re on their way up.”

The wraparound bulkhead projection appeared shortly after, indicating the Demagaron’s sensors were better at recovering from a lightspeed transit than those on an alliance warship.

“Near scans running,” said Burner.

“I’ve got the fars, sir,” said Garrett.

“Lieutenant Becerra, bring us out of silent running,” said Flint. “Remember, we’re trying to look as if we belong here and if that’s going to work, we’ll need to talk to any Kilvar warships in the vicinity.”

“Voice comms might be a problem, sir,” said Garrett.

“We won’t need voice,” growled Flint.

“I’ve taken us out of silent, sir,” said Becerra.

“Watch for inbound and outbound handshake requests.”

“I’m watching,” Becerra confirmed.

“Nears finished,” said Burner. “And all clear.”

“Leave the fars to Lieutenant Garrett,” Flint ordered. “Find Reolar and tell me what’s down there.”

“Is anyone else still feeling those transitions?” asked Bolan. “My balls are aching.”

“I didn’t need to hear that,” said Copeland. “But yeah, I’m not feeling great either.”

“I’ve located Reolar at one hundred thousand klicks - exactly the distance we aimed for,” said Burner. “Putting it on the screen.”

“Any sign of Kilvar?” asked Flint, staring at the feed.

Reolar was way out from Imbus and Larnor. It was predictably cold and barren, though its surface was pocked with volcanoes, some of them huge. The visible surface was mottled greys and browns, and Flint saw immense, hardened lava flows along with vast ranges of jagged mountains. At first, second and third glance, the place was no more than a mid-sized ball of rock with a bit more volcanic activity than most places.

However, Reolar had a feature not present in the majority of the planets Flint had visited – a thick fog of darkness wrapped it entirely, and that fog became thicker and denser closer to the surface.

“A death sphere,” said Flint.

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