Supernova by Gockel C

Author:Gockel, C. [Gockel, C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
Amazon: B08HFY4L7J
Goodreads: 55357725
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services
Published: 2021-04-20T07:00:00+00:00

16

In the Presence of Mine Enemies

Kanakah Cloud : Donner Settlement

The sight outside the Skimmers made 6T9 gape and crane his neck upward. An immense ship hovered just beyond and slightly above. She was long and sleek, with short wings with hover engines for planetside maneuvering. Her hull was a pale, slightly iridescent shimmering Luddeccean green. She had few windows. Hatches large enough for short-range fighters circled her hull. Zooming in, he realized that the shimmer he saw was from tiny green lights along her body. The hull appeared to be the same camouflage material as their envirosuits or close to it. If the lights were turned off, the ship would be nearly invisible. His circuits sparked. If she were here—

“—she’s the Luddecceans’ free-gate-capable fighter carrier,” Volka said.

The local ether came on, and with it, Jerome’s voice. “That is Luddeccean?”

TAB bubbled happily over Jerome’s channel. “That is a rhetorical question everyone! No need to answer! Jerome is just amazed at how beautiful she is, and that the Luddecceans could ever produce such a ship.”

“Luddeccean,” James snorted.

TAB made a throat-clearing sound. “Why yes, James. Beyond the ship’s colors, the Luddeccean dove is emblazoned on—”

“That’s sarcasm, TAB,” James said.

On Volka’s wrist, Bracelet cleared her throat. “Sarcasm is when—”

6T9 glared at the device and shot an ether reprimand. “All the humans know what sarcasm is. You don’t need to explain it aloud.”

TAB sniffed etherly. “I know, too.”

“No, you don’t,” Bracelet replied haughtily.

And then TAB admitted, “Well, Jerome understands, so I understand.”

6T9 switched off their channels. In the real world, Noa said dryly, “She looks amazingly like a fighter carrier proposed to Fleet twenty years ago.”

Sixty glanced down at Volka. Her eyes were still closed. “The captain would like to speak to us,” she said at the same time Dixon said, “We’re receiving a hail.”

“Put it on the holo,” Noa ordered.

Volka held up a hand. “You should know the Skimmers say that there is an unusual amount of radiation on the planet below.”

James strode over to the side of Sundancer’s hull, and 6T9 joined him. The planet below had an enormous, smooth crater of ice, not pockmarked by any smaller impacts and definitely fresh. The side of James’s lip quirked.

6T9’s eyebrow hiked. “What?”

James responded over the ether. “It has the pattern of a nuclear blast—the presence of radiation indicates it was conventional. They don’t have fusion quantum teleportation weapons yet.”

“Is that really such a good thing?” 6T9 mused directly to James’s ether channel.

Carl snored and rolled over on Volka’s lap. He smacked his lips, and his voice crackled over his ethernet-to-speech device. “They sterilized the planet. The Dark was there.”

The interior of the ship dimmed, and Volka said, “The Skimmers are stunned.” She smiled grimly. “They knew from my memories that the Luddecceans have done that before. I guess it is something for them to see it in person.”

James grumbled over the ether, “Now there’s no way to go on a computer forensics hunting expedition there.”

“Shall I put Captain Darmadi on the holo?” Dixon asked.

At

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