Rising Star by Donald Nicklas

Author:Donald Nicklas [Nicklas, Donald]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-08-01T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10 - Petrovia

Just under a week after leaving the fleet, the Gladius was in the final slipstream and would shortly enter the Petrovia system. The trip had been uneventful. They had passed a few picket destroyers as they approached their destination, but the cloak of invisibility kept them safe. Alisa Golov had some discussions with the Stouts, even though they were technically enemies. She was certain the video log of the Hayden incident still haunted them. As the week progressed, the young couple got used to the appearance and presence of the strange aliens who were part of the Romani. General Golov took the opportunity to practice her serpent speak with Hatch and the new serpents she met on the scout vessel. It was still hard to look at the serpents and not cringe a bit, especially when they stare at you with human-like blue eyes. She also knew now that all of the serpents she met were female and only the big, armored ones were male. She had suffered a lot of gender discrimination in the Petrovian military and it was very hard for a woman to achieve her rank. That all disappeared with the death of Alexi Petrov and the conquest of the Petrov corporation. Now she had contact with an alien race that was run entirely by females. How refreshing. Tavia was now flying the ship on the last leg and she was in the cockpit ready to enter the Petrovia system. Now there was an exceptional young woman who would have never been given any kind of responsibility at her age in the time of Alexi Petrov. Yet she was truly revered by the entire race of serpents, who by some quirk she had led for a short time. She was just twenty and commanded humans and serpents and they all respected her and followed orders without question. During the attack on the Rising Star, she was hit and the serpents ran to her aid and literally ripped the attackers apart.

When they reached the end of the slipstream, Tavia ordered Hatch to make the ship invisible and she depolarized the wings which then rotated down and formed a winged ship that was as at home in space as in an atmosphere. “We have now entered the Petrovia system,” Tavia announced.

“Raul, give me sensor data as it comes in,” Alaya ordered.

Raul Cortega looked at his consoles, “Telemetry indicates a large number of vessels in the system. There is also telemetry from a star port and dry-dock.”

“Any read on the ship’s transponders?” Alaya asked.

“It’s the Sinclair Mobile Fleet, Alaya. There are a total of 17 dreadnoughts 15 cruisers and 10 destroyers. A formidable assembly of ships.”

“Yes but the Mobile Fleet used to have 25 dreadnoughts. Where are the others? Any civilian ships?”

“A freighter or two, but they are sending Sinclair transponder codes, so they must be supply ships for the fleet. There is nothing related to the Petrov Corporation.”

General Golov had come to the entrance of the bridge when they came out of the slipstream.

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