Second Expansion Book 1: Shadows of the Ancient War Part1: Return to the Lost Battlefield By Mike (mjm_keen@hotmail.com) A large, bright disk was starting to form against the black backdrop from the billions of points of light that composed it. They had left the galactic plane over a month ago, but because of its vast size, it was only now become totally in view. Against the white light three silver spots could be made out. These were part of humanities greatest expedition in the last few thousand years. Fleet Admiral Clint Shelby gave out a sigh. Shelby was a medium height, well-built person. He appeared to be in his early 30s, not the 83 that he had lived. With the development of nano-tech, the human life span had been extended into the centuries. Through his military career he had spent most of his life in space, but this was the first time he had actually felt home sick. Since his father was in the military, his family had moved so much that he had never rooted himself in a place to call home, except the stars. But now he and his crew were farther then any terran had gone in the last few thousand years. They had long left the home galaxy of mankind, here man had first invented fire, the wheel, air flight, space flight, and eventually hyperspace travel. Though he knew that humanity had been out this far before, it had been such a long time ago. Shelby returned his attention to the window. Boy the stars looked beautiful. He could see three of the fourteen other ships of the fleet: the Magellan, the Essex, and Yang-Mills. They seemed to be easy to spot due to their silver color. He could easily see the three stars encircled symbol of The Commonwealth of Terran Worlds (CTW) on the side of the Magellan, but he knew these were only illusions. "Computer, terminate hyper light shift correction." The view suddenly changed. The stars now were red shifted, they were long red streaks across the dark black of the universe. The three ships now looked like silver bullets with glitter trails, but they didn't stand out as much. This is how the light came to the ship due to the hyperspacial distortion. This was the first time he had been able to truly see what was out there. For most of the journey, the fleet was cloaked to prevent detection from the other human fractions in the galaxy and the Drule Empire, though there had been little contact with them for the last few decades. The ships' shields had been configured to bend light around the ship. Outside light never reached the ship to be visible through the windows. There was only the computer recreation from the sensor data that was taken from the light as it was bent. The problem with the cloak is that it is only affective at long range. Close up ships could detect the ship's standard emissions that were reduced while cloaked. Part of the reason it had taken them a month to get this far was due to the reduced power output and therefore reduced speeds they traveled. Again, he began to think of his father. His father had become known during the war from his several successful campaigns, but one great battle had made him the hero of the war. The Confederated Empire of Planets (CEP), who was considered the aggressor of the war, had broken through the border with a large armada of newly developed super ships and headed straight for Sol (Earth's solar system). Many ships were destroyed trying to stop them, but managed to slow the armada enough for a fleet to intercept them to be assembled. Clint's father had been in charge of that fleet. The fleets had begun their battle out at Wolf 359, but the CTW fleet was forced back to Earth. At Earth, there were reinforcements from many of the merchants and the defense bases on Earth. There the CEP fleet was defeated, but it was not a real victory. Before the CEP fleet's defeat, they had managed to destroy several Terran cities, including the capital of the CTW. Most of the Civilian Government was destroyed. The military took over the government to prevent the CTW's collapse till after the war when the civilians could vote again. The media and history claim that the final victory was due to Clint's father's commanding ability, but that was not the whole story. The discovery of extremely powerful weapons and technologies from before humanity's collapse had been found. These had been placed on many stations had several Earth based bases. But the military had not wanted to let the public know of the new discoveries, so his father got credit. Due to the publicity, his father soon rose high in the military bureaucracy. His father became a congressman after the war when the civilian government returned. His father had been running for President when an assassin killed him. That had not been Shelby's last loss to the war. Twenty years later, Jennifer, his wife was killed to a terrorist attack and eight years after that Thomas, his son, was killed on Tom's first tour of duty, right after coming out of the academy. Shelby had never liked being compared to his father. His father believed too much in the use of force. He always had believed in force only when necessary. He had never really been close to his father. His father had always been away from home, and when Clint entered the military, his father had entered politics. There was a whoosh as the doors to the ready room opened. His top aid and the Captain of the ship entered. His aid, Go-on 20-3, was a member of the Trilo race. The 20 meant he was the twentieth generation in the family and the three meant third born. He was about a meter and a half tall with three eyes and three of each limb. That was where the tri came for the name of his race. He was red skinned and had a long neck. The captain of the CTWS Einstein, flagship of the fleet, was a female born on the Utopia Planetia Colony on Mars about 68 years old. She had let her red hair grow since their departure, from the standard military cut. Shelby didn't mind. He thought that rule was too strict. Her name was Dorris Seldon. "Sir, we have a 40 minute ETA. It is time," Go-on stated in a monotone voice. He is in work mode, the admiral thought. Now is the time to debrief the Senior Staff of the Fleet. He hated the secrecy he had to keep, but he was under very strict orders and there were to be no leaks, this mission was too important. Shelby led the way to the door at the back of his ready room that lead to the staff briefing room. * * * * * The flight deck was busier then normal. The fleet was approaching their first destination and all fighters had to be ready to go. Normal operating guidelines were to give every fighter a level three diagnostic once every 24 hours, and a level two before a launch. But the Admiral wanted all ships to be fully ready for a full launch. That meant giving every fighter a level two diagnostic. The tech crews were working 16-hour shifts to pull it off. Colonel Lucille Clark, Lucy to her a few people, walked out of the flight locker room in her flight suit, helmet in hand. The flight deck was a mess. All the diagnostic booths were full. A tech crew was swarming over a Ferret on the flight deck since the all the servicing spots were full. Diagnostic equipment and ship parts were spread around. Only one of the six forward launch bays from the flight deck were open. We would be in a heck of a bind if we were attacked right now, she thought. She'd have to take care of that when she returned. The flight deck was two decks high and took up most of the middle of the carrier. Three decks below were for storing the fighters. There were six forward launch bays and six aft launch bays. A peninsula protruded over the center of the deck containing the Flight Operations Control Room. Two Saber fighters were sitting ready in the ready area. Her wingman had just stepped onto the flight deck. She didn't care for Sabers. Even though they had more firepower and armor then all the other fighters on board, they weren't maneuverable enough for her taste. She would have rather flown a Broadsword, her ship of choice. Being the Wing Commander of the ship, she could have flown a Broadsword, but the mission required a long rang craft with hyperdrive, and the Saber being a bomber was the only class of fighter up to the mission. She climbed up the ladder into the cockpit and pulled the helmet on over her short hair. She liked long hair, but it got into her way too often while flying. She strapped in and pulled the two control consoles to her. She began the initial flight checklist. The engines made a high pitched whir as they came online. Lights started to come on all over the cockpit. A holographic, wire frame model of the fighter appeared to her right. The HUDs began to light up with status information. "Saber 01, launch status," a small voice said into her head set. "All systems check." "Roger, prepare to be taxied to the launch area." A tractor beam grabbed onto the ship and began to pull the Saber up to the launch bay. Lucille began to power up the hyperdrive. In seconds her HUD flashed Hyper Drive Ready. The Saber was now pulled into the catapult. "Saber 02, you are go for launch in ten..." Lucy gripped the control stick preparing to be shoved out of the carrier. A launch at hyperspace was one of the most difficult flight maneuvers to pull off. The timing had to be perfect. No time for a mess up, no matter how minor. The hyperspace field had to begin to form around the fighter five seconds before reaching the carrier's hyperspace field. Too early and you would short out the ship, too late and your fighter would be ripped apart as it coexisted in both hyperspace and normal space/time. "3, 2, 1, Launch!" Lucy was pushed back into her seat as the catapult pushed the fighter forward. She cleared the carrier and applied reverse thrusters. Her velocity now matched that of the carrier. She was sitting only ten meters from the ship. She activated the hyperspace engines and altered course to a small window in the field to her right. Bringing the throttle up, she reached the field. The fighter shuddered as it hit the field but smoothed out as her own field hit full intensity. Ooh, that was close, she was about 5 milliseconds out of the safety zone. That was the maximum tolerance. The ship gave another shudder. Now, what was that? Her sensors told her she had hit a region of massive spatial distortion. Now what could be causing that? "Flight control, Saber 01 is now clear" she reported. "Roger that Saber 01. Saber 03 is now go for launch." She saw her wingman leave the ship and execute the same maneuver she had. Only he timed the field phase in better. "Alright Shark, form on my wing." "Yes ma'am!" Shark replied. "Course set for Nav Point. Engaging at max hyperspace velocity. ETA 9 minutes." * * * * * Shelby entered into the slow murmur of the briefing room. The officers went to their seats around the "C" shaped conference table. The captain sat in her chair to Shelby's right. Go-on stood to his left. Along the back wall were holographic displays of the captains of the other ships of the fleet. "Briefing room secure. Hyperlinks established. All is clear, sir." Go-on stated. Shelby never liked to keep anything from his crew, but this mission was too important. He walked up to a small podium in front of the room. "Computer, begin presentation. "The information I am about to give you is of the highest classification, level 0. This information is contained in documents titled "Mission: Denubian Contact." Computer section 104-897A through 104-914G. Which is now available for you to review in your quarters. "To start off. Most of what you have been told about this mission is false. There is no hidden base of attack fleet. That was a cover story in case we were captured. Only a few of the high officers knew the true goal of this mission." On the holo-display in the center of the room an image of four galaxies took the place of the rotating Classified information display that had been there. "As all of you are aware, at one time, about three thousand years ago, humanity had spread across these four galaxies; Milky Way, Andromeda, Triangular, and Denubian. Our expansion was viewed as a threat by an unknown race. This race used specially programmed nanobots to attempt to wipe out humanity. The nanobots spread like a wild fire across the galaxies until they activated and began to cause people to break down at the cellular level. Within weeks, trillions were dead. "Before the epidemic had began, the nanobots had been found while performing an autopsy on the victims of a ship crash. The nanobots had baffled the doctors so samples were sent to several of the most advanced Medical Universities and Centers. The specialists were quickly able to figure out what they were, fore Terrans had been working toward nano-technology for several centuries. "The nanobots were organic in nature and rudimentary different from any other known form of life. This gave us an advantage when the epidemic broke out. With the extreme differences in genetics, the nanobots had only one way to attack us and their ability to adapt was limited by their genetic structure. Soon we could block the nanobots one way of killing us, but it was found too late for much of humanity. Already a week had passed and forty percent of humanity was dead. The cure was not easy to spread, so it could only be issued from the medical centers on the few planets. These planets were the only ones to survive. "On Earth and many of the other planets in the Milky Way, people were fearful of a renewed attack and much of technology was attempted to be destroyed. Much of it was hidden to avoid destruction. Technology dealing with genetics was kept in case of a renewed attack. This was when our modern nanotech development occurred. "About six decades ago, ruins dating back from that time were uncovered. The ruins contained large amounts of information on our fellow galaxies, as well as much technology that was used in the construction of this fleet." The holo zoomed into the far edge of the Denubian Galaxy. Several spots were now visible with the computer-added notes of the high amount of radiating artificially produced energy. "Roughly five years ago, newly developed long range sensors detected what we believe to be movement of the species that tried to destroy us on the far side of the Denubian Galaxy. Command is afraid that they have detected our comeback and is preparing for a renewed attack. They are unsure if this next attack will be the same faceless attack as before or a physical attack." The holo moved out to show the Milky Way along with the Denubian Galaxy. A red X appeared below the rim of the Milky Way to show the fleets current position. "Our Mission is to return to the Denubian Galaxy. There we are to re- establish contact with any of the surviving colony worlds." Several officers began to say, "That will take over two years!" "Not quite..." * * * * * The gravitational distortions were getting stronger. Lucy was having trouble keeping her ship together. The computer was trying to adjust the inertial dampers to compensate, but it was having trouble. "Ma'am, I have found an area with no distortion." Lucy looked at her HUD. Shark had sent the co-ordinates of the area. "Good work Shark!" "Thanks!" The extreme distortion must be being caused by the gateway. "Drop from hyperspace in 30 seconds. Once we get in range, I want you to go 30 degrees to the right of our flight path and begin an analysis." "Roger that Ma'am." Because of the nature of the gateway, it was not detectable in hyperspace. Lucy wished to God that their records were correct, otherwise they could find what existed of them in normal space splattered across the gateway. "Begin deceleration. Phase-in in 10 seconds. "Reaching relativistic speeds. "Phase-in...Now!" Space was returning to normal. What looked like a metal donut appeared before them, but it was only about the size of a dime at their distance. "We are inside of the gravity distortions. Changing course 30 degrees to right." Lucy activated a hyperlink to the Einstein. "Clark to Shelby, we have reached the Nav Point." * * * * * "Colonel Clark has just reached her nav point. You will now see how we will get to the Denubian Galaxy. Computer, patch communications to Briefing Room and display sensor info on the holo grid." On the center display the silver ring appeared. Colonel Clark's voice came over the com system. "Beginning scans.... "The gateway has a diameter of 150,429.20 km. That is slightly more then 10 times Jupiter's diameter. The mass is huge, about that of a small galaxy. If my readings are right there is a large part of this object that has an infinite density! The sucker contains a singularity! Doing gravitational distortion scans.... "Space at my current location is bent about sixty percent at my distance of 3 astronomical units. This is amazing! The technology required to build such a thing! "Calculations being completed on scans.... "According to this, several cosmic strings exist in this thing, wrapped around each other and constantly moving. That would explain the gravitational distortion. But it is unknown how the cosmic strings are contained without collapsing the whole structure. "There is about ninety-five percent spatial distortion at the center. There are huge amounts of energy irrupting in the center. Power output is at about 2%. My goodness, at only 2% energy output it produces 100 times more energy then the entire fleet combined. It would have no trouble reaching the power to probe planks constant." Shelby interrupted. "According to our records this is one end of a gateway to allow quick travel between galaxies. These bend space enough to create a wormhole between the two. A wormhole is a hole through space that is shorter then going around. According to the records they had developed methods to produce stable wormholes without this support, but those have by now collapsed or become unstable. "Intercept is in 15 minutes. Crew dismissed." Doris walked up to Shelby and followed him to the bridge. * * * * * "Dropping from hyperspace. Entire Fleet reports in normal status no damage." Reported Tolwyn. Commander Tolwyn was the Operations Manager. Back on ancient Earth in what is called the twentieth century, he would have been called the navigator. But on modern ships, he was in charge of the sensors, which added more to his job then keeping track of where they were and where they should go. He was the representation of the bridge for the Sciences Control Room down by the Combat Information Center. For this mission, though, he was mainly going scan the Gateway. Shelby stood next Doris sitting in her chair. His proper place was in the Combat Information Center commanding the fleet, but he wanted to see all the action from the bridge. Admiral Grier, the second in command of the fleet was keeping house down there. He and Doris had both served together during the recovery after Skirmish Wars. Though it really wasn't the end of the war, the war was still going on at the borders. She had been the commander of one of the carriers in his fleet. He still couldn't figure it out, but she had somehow taken out the Ministers Third Fleet of CEP with only the carrier and it's fighter support. The fleet had been in an ambush and her carrier had gotten separated in a spatial disturbance. When they finally found her, she was with the hulks of five cruisers and two more had surrendered. Because of that, she was Shelby's first choice as captain of the Einstein. They had also become close friends during that time, nothing more since she was married and he was engaged. Right after the end of that tour of duty, Shelby had gone to a desk job to be able to spend time with his wife and raise a family, until that horrible day. At the helm with the helmsman was the shipboard robot and First Officer, Commander Daneel in his android body, which could not be distinguished from a human with the naked eye. Daneel was calculating the course corrections necessary for the spatial distortion. He was a sentient being by his programming and galactic law. He had been developed through the ancient's technology about 20 years ago. Clark had been a member of that program and Daneel's closest friend. "Admiral, we are coming within range." "On the screen, Lieutenant." The same silver donut appeared. "The Colonel and her wing man have landed back on the carrier." "Mr. Marx, ring the doorbell." "Yes, sir. I'm turning the antenna and preparing to broadcast. May the great Bob safely guide us. Sending hail now!" Elliot Marx was a rather odd person. He talked about turning some antenna that didn't exist, whatever that was, and this Bob creation he had come up with. But he was the best radioman in the galaxy. Shelby often found that the great ones were the oddest people. On the screen the gateway was beginning to spin. Tolwyn started reading of his sensor data. "Power generators are coming online. The gateway is now spinning at about a revolution every 5 weeks and increasing. Now up to a revolution every week, once a day, and increasing." The stars in the center of the ring were turning into long streaks as the space was being warped. "Power levels on the gateway are climbing. Reaching 60% of full power, 70%, Space fold is reaching 98, 98.5, 99%. Power output is reaching 90%. The wormhole is beginning to form." The ring was now spinning at a fast rate. The black that had been in the center was now replaced with a bright white light. The light began to fade, from center out. It was being replaced by the image of a spiral galaxy, Denube. "Wormhole is complete. Power out put has dropped to and holding at 60%. The wormhole has a length of 500 klicks and appears stable." Shelby stood up, stunned at the technical ability that was required just to build this thing. He had thought about it before, but that was before it had warped 4 million light years of space! "Launch the probe." The probe was only visible as a small silver speck on the screen. "Receiving telemetry. The probe is now entering the wormhole. Gravitational interference is nominal. It has no outside stresses. Now exiting the wormhole." "Put telemetry on the main screen," the admiral ordered. On the screen the Denubian Galaxy was displayed. It was a spiral galaxy about three-quarters the size of the Milky Way. The galaxy's center was proportionately larger then that of the Milky Way. Like the Milky Way, this galaxy also had a massive singularity, black hole, at its center. Denube's singularity was larger then that of the Milky Way's suggesting that this galaxy was older. "The gateway is about 10,000 light years (ly) from the Denubian Galaxy. It will take the fleet 56 hours to reach the galaxy. From our information, most of the colonies existed in an area 18,000 light years inside of Denube." "Let's head the way for the fleet. Helm, take her in and set course for the colonies." * * * * * The fleet had been underway for 3 days. They were already inside Denube. The crew had settled into a regular schedule and the ship had cheerful ring to it. The crew now had a goal to reach. So far they had not run into any other ships. ERR, ERR, ERR, ERR.... An arm reached out of the wrinkled covers and hit the button on the night stand. The figure in the bed began to get up. The covers fell away to reveal the wild hair and stubbly beard of Admiral Shelby. He looked over at the computer display on the night stand, 0600 already? He had had a late night going over star charts in Stellar Cartography. Emily, his virtual assistant, had already put up his appointments for today. He had a six-hour bridge duty starting at 0800, had a department head meeting at 1500, a fleet captains meeting at 1600, and an engineering inspection at 1900 following Dinner. A full day, but he was having breakfast with Doris and her husband. Any meal with them was enjoyable. * * * * * Lucy had gotten up early this morning. Being 0600 and she was already heading for the flight deck. When running a diagnostic on her Broadsword last night, she had a 2% efficiency drop in the fighters main power reactor. To most people a little amount like that was nothing, it was well in the acceptable tolerances of the regs, but pilots wouldn't settle for less then a 0.01 phase variants. A phase variants meant a decrease in efficiency, and a pilot wanted their fighter to be in top shape, any little thing that could give them an advantage. Lucy stepped into the ship's lift. "Main Flight Deck" The lift gave a whoosh as it began its journey. She was the only one in the lift, as she had been for much of her life. She had grown up on one of the outer colonies toward the end of the war. Many of the colonies had broken contact with the Commonwealth and formed a small alliance. When she was six, the colony was attacked. She was the only survivor. The other colonies just wrote her colony off as dead and left it. She spent the next ten years on her own, until a Commonwealth patrol fleet found her. That fleet had been commanded by a young Clint Shelby, young being only about 50, though due to nano technology he still looked much the same 30 years later. The lift changed direction now heading toward the center of the ship. At this time Clint had just learned about the loss of his son on his first tour of duty fresh out of the Space Academy. This was the Admiral's second loss due to the war. His wife had been killed five years earlier in a terrorist attack. Clint took Lucy in and helped her with returning to society. She had been only slightly younger then Clint's son and he had seen a lot of his son in her. A year later he adopted her. The lift stopped on the flight deck. The atmosphere of the flight deck was quite different from what it had been on her last mission. Most of the fighters were ready for launch at any moment. Most of the techies were trying to rest up from the rushed work of the last several days. Her Broadsword was sitting in one of the diagnostic/repair booths on the sides of the flight deck. On the fighter were two walkways on either side of the fuselage to allow technicians to walk about. The fighter was glowing from the lighting being reflected off the chrome heat shield. To her, this fighter was the most beautiful machine ever made. She loved this craft much as people of ancient Terra loved those machines they called automobiles. One of her holdovers from growing up alone was that she liked and trusted machines often times more then people. Lucy had thoroughly modified her fighter. This was evident from the large plasma cannon extruding from the belly and the two extra engines that served as afterburners that were mounted right above the wings. What was not as evident was the many smaller additions. Her Broadsword could also maneuver better then a Scimitar, the standard medium fighter. Though the maneuverability issue would go out the window with Gravitonics. No more need for inertial dampers and extreme maneuverability. She had seen a demonstration of an advanced prototype craft with a Gravitonic Drive. The craft had instant acceleration and could stop on a flea, all with no g-forces on the pilot. Lucy turned out to be one of the pilots scheduled to get a Gravitonic Fighter. In two years time, the new Nova class attack shuttles would be out and the Einstein was scheduled to get one. Lucy climbed up the ladder leading to the cockpit. The canopy had opened upon her approach. She reached in and activated the fighter's onboard computer. "Computer coming online." The computer had been another one of her small improvements. Most fighter computers didn't have the pseudo intelligence like that of a capital ship. Much of the design was a carry over from a computer she had built in her ten years of solitude. It was the closest thing she had had to a friend during those horrible years. "Hello Lucy. Bringing up the fusion reactor controls right now." One of the nice things about these computers was their ability to think ahead, even the carriers computer didn't do that very well. A clicking noise came from the fuselage of the fighter for a few seconds. A swoosh followed as the armor plating on the top of the fighter separated down the middle. Within the guts of the craft lay exposed. Clark pulled her Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) of the belt. The screen slid out of the small 10 cm long block. On the screen was the image of the fusion reactor with full information on it. The computer had automatically transferred the controls. Clark climbed onto the back of the fighter and crawled over the frame to a liter sized glass canister full of distilled water. This was the power source of the fighter. A masculine voice shouted to her, "Aren't you supposed to use anti-grav when working on a fighter, not climbing around like a monkey?" Clark was startled and almost fell off the frame into the fighter, which would have been a disaster. She turned to see Daneel standing in his android body. Clark quickly quipped back, "Don't do that! I almost fell on top of the Fusion Core and cryogenic equipment. Had that happened this fighter would be nothing more then a pile of scrap Detiruim. "Do you know how much it costs for one fighter? More then I will make in fifty years! I am lucky enough to have this one!" A wide grin formed across Daneel face. "I could just get you another one by hacking through the computer system. With the amount of bureaucracy they would never notice it." "We don't need another thing like that." Her PDA beeped indicating an end to the diagnostic. The screen showed the reactor to be functioning normally. This baffled Lucy, Why would a general diagnostic indicate a performance decrease, but the full diagnostic didn't. "Hey, I could use your help here," Lucy shouted down to Daneel. "Just a moment." Daneel walked to a small niche a few booths down. When he returned, his legs had been replaced with a small anti-grav unit. He floated up to Lucy. Lucy explained to him about the problem. "I don't want to have to take the fighter off line for a full day to find the problem." "Well, My sensors don't detect anything wrong right off the bat. Nothing is leaking. Heat distribution seems right, wait, there is some micro fractures on the lower housing of the reactor. But that shouldn't lead to any immediate problems." "Something just doesn't seem right about this. How would the micro fractions get there? The fusion power plant was just replaced right before the fleet left dock, and it has only been flown to try out my recent modifications, which had nothing to do with that part of the craft." "It could just be a manufacturing flaw that has gotten over looked." "That could be, but with how much of a stickler the Tech Chief is, that would be hard to believe." "Lucy, do you remember when during my OS software tests that the diagnostic found problems with several of the synaptic pathways. Nobody could find any problems and when they turned me on, there were no ill effects." When Lucy had been fresh out of the Academy, she had been placed into Project Adam, the first attempt at a truly sentient machine. Her work with pseudo-intelligence during her years of solitude had gotten her noticed by the director of the project and made her a top priority to get on the team. "How could I not remember that? The problem was in your personality expansion paths. I had lobbied to have your personality to be able to expand, grow, and change. If there were anything wrong with that area, it would have been my head. "We finally found that the problem was that your pathways had not been deep enough. It had no effect on you. Well at least that is what I got the other engineers of Project Adam to believe. If they knew what it would really cause, they would have only seen the bad of it. In actuality it allowed those pathways to be able to change easier and make you more adaptive. On a few occasions they moved on their own and caused personality changes. I'm glad that many of the engineers were so naive and easy to manipulate." "Well you are just good at manipulating men," Daneel replied with a mischievous grin. Lucy could feel the capillaries on her face opening that made her blush. Daneel continued, "It was just nothing. I'm not trying to say it will be beneficial, but it will probably be nothing." That seemed kind of odd. Daneel had been really protective of her for the last twenty years. If he had seen something that would threaten her life he wouldn't let her go without good reason. Could this mark another shift in his pathways? That hadn't happened for 12 years. The pathways should have engraved themselves far enough by now for a change that major. Lucy slightly shook her head, which was caught by Daneel, but he didn't say anything. The change was probably nothing. Lucy decided to continue to talk about the good old days. "You know what Daneel. I miss how I used to be when I was younger. So carefree, thinking I could take on the world. That was only made worse when I was assigned to one of the highest-ranking scientific programs when I first got out of the Academy. That did get me in trouble a few times. Especially when I just wanted to get into a fighter back during your tests as a crewmember aboard the Crazy Horse and you helped me steal the fighter for the short joy-ride." "Well didn't that help you out? When you were out swatting at nebulae, you found that ambush fleet and really showed how good of a pilot you were. That was the reason your court martial never went through. Instead you got transferred into fighter service. Several of the Admirals saw a lot of promise in you. You had a willingness to take chances, you just needed more experience to take appropriate risks." "I still think ol' Clint had something to do with it. But he did give me a real good talking to after that incident. And it wouldn't have happened if your development hadn't been going through the equivalent of adolescence. That stage was closer to human then we ever imagined. Actually we never thought it would happen. You never had the hormonal changes that a human does at the time." Daneel had a look of mock shock on his face. "What!?! You didn't enjoy me having a crush on you?" "Oh stop it! You're just terrible! I am beginning to regret having done your personality that way." They were interrupted by a general call to stations. "All crew report to stations. All crew report to stations. This is not an emergency." * * * * * The aroma filled from the kitchen filled the Seldon's entire quarters until the ventilation system automatically kicked in. "Ha, your secret just got out. You're cooking pancakes!" Shelby taunted at Harry. Harry Seldon was one of the few people that actually cooked food in this day and age. Now they had food synthesizers that constructed the food from the pure organic compounds. Sometimes Shelby wondered if he was getting food or an eighth graders failed chemistry experiment. Since coming into the quarters, Shelby had been kept into the dark on what he was being served, but a delay in the ventilation system had reported in on their little secret. "Darn! I'm going to have to fix that." Harry yelled back from the kitchen, "Doris had told me how your grandmother had cooked you pancakes on your occasional visit to Earth while growing up. Before the fleet departed, I had spent months trying to track done your grandmother's recipe. I had a heck of a time tracking it down. Evidently, your grandmother had given it to very few people and made them swear a blood oath that they would not give it out." "So then who did you get it from?" "Well it turned out she had gotten it from a caf‚ in San Francisco. I got it from the cook there, but I had to swear an oath that I would not reveal who I got it from or the recipe." Doris was listening to this while sitting on an easy chair across from the love seat that Shelby was sitting on. "I had wanted to surprise you with it because it is coming up to the anniversary of your father's death." It was almost that time, December, what was it now, fifth. Shelby was terrible at remembering dates. That is what was so nice with a virtual assistant to remind you two days before. Except it was now a week before, so he hadn't gotten a reminder yet. Shelby slumped down his head as he remembered what was coming soon after that. "And that is ten days before the anniversary of Jenny's death." A tear rolled down Shelby's cheek. Doris came over to comfort him. Shelby new she hadn't meant for this to come up. Even after forty years, it was still hard for him. Especially since their sun died only eight years later. Shelby turned his head and started to cry into Doris's shoulder. Doris put her hand on the back of his head. "It's all right. She was a good person. I didn't meant for this to come up." "I know, it's just that I can't believe how much I miss her, even now forty years later." After several minutes, Shelby was able to recompose himself and got up. He walked to a near by table to poured himself a cup of coffee. Ahhh coffee, nature's way of getting you up in the morning. Harry came out of the kitchen with a large plate piled with flapjacks. He set down the large plate on the round table in the and called out, "Foods on!" Shelby sat down and immediately started to pile pancakes on his plate. "In a bit of a hurry, aren't we sir?" Harry inquired. Shelby looked up. Both of the Seldons were standing next each other. Harry was a head shorter then Doris, but Doris had grown up in the lower gravity of Mars. Harry had big brown eyes and a thick head of short brown hair. His body wasn't all that well built. He was quite thin and didn't appear to be that strong. But looks could be deceiving, as many had found out. "Uh, sorry." Harry seated his wife and sat down next to her. Harry looked up at Shelby with a concerned look on his face. "There is something that is bothering me about Commander Daneel, Clint. "Last night, he was down in Engineering to help do a regular replacement of a plasma relay. Well, he seemed to be pre-occupied. We would keep forgetting things and made a number of stupid mistakes. He was not the perfectionist he normally would be." This concerned Shelby. That was not at all like Daneel. Daneel was never pre-occupied the same way people were. His computational powers didn't allow for that. This had to be something serous. Shelby's thoughts were interrupted by the general call to quarters. All three of them got up to go to their proper departments. * * * * * Arus was one of the most beautiful planets in the Galaxy. She was also the most powerful and the richest. These things also extended to her spacecraft. Her ships were comfortable and very luxurious, even the military craft. The Lion's Claw was no exception. The Lion's Claw was one of the five command ships of King Marcus the Fourth's personal fleet. The ship was now escorting important mineral cargo and much information recently found at one of the ancient outposts from before the purges. Many of the scholars that went into hiding had left Arus and hid important information on History and technology across the three explored quadrants of the Galaxy. "Current ETA to the port?" asked the First Speaker of the Ship, a man by the name of Soran. Soran was an older man, with a balding head. He had served with King Marcus IV for many years. "Roughly 30 minutes till the port, Sir." Long trips bored Soran. He was a fighter, not some ship sitter. He wanted something to happen. Many Zylon attacks had been made during the last few decades. Soran had had the honor of fighting in many of those, and many victories. As if almost on cue, the Eyes of the Ship reported, "A fleet of Zylon craft is at extreme sensor range. I detect 20 Corvette's." "Great Solon's Ghost, I was hoping for some excitement, but they could easily incinerate us!" "Something else detected, a fleet of 15 large craft, material. They appear to be of Milky Way manufacture!" "What!" Soran nearly ripped his robe as he flew out of his chair. "How could they get here. That is a 10-year trip. We would have known if they had sent a fleet out. What fraction do the ships belong to?" "The ships have the insignia of the Commonwealth of Terran Worlds on them" Soran relaxed. The communications intercepted from the neighbor galaxy had shown the CTW to be one of the better governments. "We are being hailed." * * * * * "What's the problem?" the Admiral Shelby asked to the Sensor Office as he entered into the Combat-Information-Center (CIC). The CIC was the brains of the entire fleet. The room was covered with both holo-tanks and flat view screen bringing in data from every ship. A large, round conference table in the center was the vocal point of the room, displaying wire-frame holo images of the fleet and ships within 500,000 klicks. The view moved away from the fleet and to 6 surface textured ships that were quite a distance away. Two of the ships were large, over 3000m in length made up of 30 large rings along the ships' spine, most likely cargo transports. The four escort craft were much smaller, more like Corvettes or Frigates, with bows shaped like lions heads. A young male lieutenant manned the sensor station "Sensors indicate a small convoy of six ships 20 light years from our current location. Sensors do not read any transponder signals. Two of the ships appear to be transports carrying Condensed Lazon, Ionized Topaz, Liquid Swartz, and Corbomite. The rest of the fleet appears to be three Corvettes and a Destroyer. The ships are fairly armed with X-ray blasters and Plasma Cannons and moderately armored. Propulsion is fusion. "There is also a large flux of X-rays moving on an intercept vector at 16 light years from the convoy. Their patterns and frequency correspond to that of a forced singularity, most likely artificial, but we don't detect the extreme gravitational warping or any of the extreme power output of a gravitational dampening field powerful enough to counter it." Shelby asked, "Are there any tachyon emissions similar to the ones detected on the far side of Denube?" "No, but those would have been produced by much larger craft. These seem to be about the size of a Corvette. "Wait a moment, "The computer has found transponder signals for the convoy. They were in the high EM band. The computer is now attempting to interpret the codes. The ships are part of the Arusian Stellar Alliance, King Solon's Lionfighter Squadron. The computer indicates that Arus was one of the most powerful and technologically advanced planets of Denube before the great collapse." "Helm, set the fleet on an intercept course." Shelby opened a com channel to Flight Control from the arm of his chair. Colonel Clark's disembodied head appeared right in front of the Admirals face. He got the sense that she was worried about something. That didn't seem like her. He just shrugged it off. "We have found a small convoy of ships, believed to be human. I want you to get the pilots prepped for a possible attack. We aren't quite sure how they will react." "Affirmative sir!" The image blinked off. The doors into the CIC swooshed open. Shelby looked back to see Admiral Grier and Go-on enter. He quickly brought them up to speed. Both Go-on and Grier agreed with Shelby to attempt to communicate. "Hail the ship, prepare the Universal Translator." Shelby walked to the front of the room to a large view screen. The Com man reported that a signal was open. "I am Fleet Admiral Clint Shelby representing the Commonwealth of Terran Planets. We do not come as hostile. We are explorers that went to make friends with your people." This was the standard gobbledygook that the reg. Books said was needed in first communication, though enough conquerors on Earth had started this way. Now was the wait, often other civilizations had a device similar to the Universal Translator that would hopefully make some sense out of the message. An image of an older man appeared on screen. He had a ring of hair right below his bald spot. He also wore a long red robe that had a royal shield on the right side. He had the looks of an old sage. Shelby was shocked at the man's immediate reply in almost perfect Terran Standard. "I am First Speaker Soran of the Lion's Claw, head attack ship of His Majesty's third fleet of the Arusian Planetary Alliance. We need your immediate assistance. A group of twenty Zylon ships are approaching. The Zylons are the race that had brought the rot of humanity from the stars thousands of years ago." Shelby shut away his curiosity about the language to keep sharp about the more pressing matter. "Are those the source of the X-ray flux 20 ly from your ships?" "Yes, the Zylons use forced artificial singularities to power their ships. They also use biology much as your people and mine use technology. Their ships are actually biological organisms. We will send you all information in our databanks, can your computers except data in base 4?" "We should be able to handle it. We should be in your range within a few minutes. Shelby out." Shelby turned to the Computer Officer on the right side of the table. "What do you have?" The young female Lieutenant replied, "We have received all the information. It will take the computer a little bit to translate the data, but the computer has found similarities with their data format in the databanks." "Alright, let me know when it is completed." The admiral reached down to his chair arm and pressed the red alert button and the ship wide intercom. The klaxon filled the ship. "All hands to battle stations, we are going in to defend a human convoy from the Zylon, a race that uses biological technology. This will be our first true battle as a crew. From the several months we have served together I have faith in this crew. Don't disappoint me." Shelby re-opened the intercom to Colonel Clark. Clark's head was again float in the air in front of the Admirals face. "Lucy, we have received data on the Zylon ships, but it will take a little bit to translate. The ships are still out of our life form scanners. When your teams launch, I want detailed sensor scans, as close as you can get." Clark nodded, keeping a steel look on her face, but she still looked worried. Most people wouldn't have been able to see it in her except for him and Daneel. "Alright sir." "Do me proud honey." This got a small smile from Clark and the Admiral a few odd looks from the crew that didn't know about Clark being the Admiral's adopted daughter. Hopefully rumors weren't going to fly around the younger crew about this. The holo-image winked out. "Drop from hyperspace when we are within 30,000 klicks and have fighters begin launch." * * * * * The Zylon ships had dropped out of hyperspace 100,000 km from the Arusian Convoy several minutes after the Einstein began launcher higher fighters. The lead group of fighters had already reached the convoy. Lucy was in her fighter leading the offensive forces. She still had this feeling of upcoming doom. She just tried to think only about the mission and not let it affect her. "Alright, Alpha 1, Beta 1, and Epsilon 1 squadrons, begin sensor scans." Those three squadrons were composed of Ferret light fighters equipped with sensor pods. Lucy watched on her scanners as they formed a net of 24 ships and flew at full throttle close to the ships. The Zylons didn't react in anyway. The HUD in Lucy's fighter lit up with all the new sensor data. No wonder they didn't attack, they had scanned our ships as they passed! "All fighters! Begin immediate rotation of shield frequencies." The warning was too late for several of the fighters. Blue beams jumped out of the Zylon craft and hit the now retreating fighters. Three of them were consumed by fireballs, they had been too late with the shields. Lucy took a quick look over the sensor data to find the Zylon's weaknesses. The Zylon ships resembled flying rib cages with bits of flesh hanging off them. They had a long spine that had a sphere at the end and twelve curved pylons that hung from the side. The sphere held the singularity that powered the ship. The Zylon ships must consume x-rays, since a singularity is the largest source of x-rays in the known universe, it made some sense. It was also their weak point. "Delta 3 and Gamma 3 squadrons, go in and attack the sphere's at the end of those ships. Use Photon and Tachyon cannons on a frequency of 456.96 terra hertz." Those squadrons were Broadsword heavy fighters. Their greater armor would hopefully keep them from the fate of their three team mates. Lucy's fighter suddenly began to buckle. Warning lights flashed through the cockpit. The computer started to give the status report. "The primary energy conduits just blew. Damage is contained to just the primary reactor, but the reactor is cracked. Reactor is now 20 percent full. Switching to back up reactors." Lucy cursed and figured why she had that feeling of doom. Somebody had sabotaged the fighter. The micro fractures had been just for the power transfer conduits but the perpetrators had been slightly clumsy and had gotten the reactor too. Why had Daneel not noticed those fractures also? No time for speculation now, she had to hold the ship together and run a battle. To be continued...