“Now, send the stand-down order and have your people report to the main hangar of this facility,” Estall demanded.
Kisch K’ta looked at Setaru’ lek who normally would have protested the idea of Vorn clansmen surrendering under any circumstances. He now appeared to be in no hurry to sacrifice his own life. The Governor tapped into the communications display on his desk panel, opening a channel to his ground forces commander. He issued the command in his own language and then received a puzzled but compliant reply.
“Now what?” asked Setaru’ lek.
“Vasad,” Estall said, “take the governor’s aides with you and go to the hangar bay. Have the others meet you there with their captives and wait for the Vorn army to arrive. Hold them there in the hangar for now.”
Vasad motioned with his pulse rifle to Setaru’ lek and Kisch K’ta’s other aides to come with him. He looked back at the governor, who offered no alternative, then proceeded out the door with the others and Vasad behind them.
“Estall, I’ve ordered the Sentinels to stand down,” said Ranul, “but you need to look at this.”
He put his display onto the large main viewer on the wall. A picture of the Vorn’s scanner readouts and log entries appeared on the screen.
“It looks like they’ve been tracking the Saberhawk since it left the atmosphere. They’re on approach to enter the transdimensional rift. Look, all of this has been sent as a continuous transmission to the fleet on the other side, but there hasn’t been any reply, even on this closed channel.”
“Maybe they’re maintaining silence to try and surprise our ship when it comes through.”
“Not likely,” Ranul said. “The last transmission from across the rift appears to have been a week ago and nothing at all since. Why haven’t your forces responded, Governor? Your transmission log shows repeated attempts with no reply. Why?”
“If I knew, then we wouldn’t be continuing to try and gain a response would we?”
“There’s a reference here in some of their last responses to the Sphere. What does that mean, Governor?”
Ranul could see something foreboding in the governor’s eyes, though he answered not a word.
“Search the database for the term.”
Ranul keyed the reference into the computer. Immediately, a massive file with numerous subsections appeared on the screen. He scanned through the data very quickly, trying to make sense of it. The more he read, the more he understood Kisch K’ta’s odd look of dread. A disturbing realization came to him.
“You’ve been running! That’s why you came here through the rift. To get away from this thing! Isn’t it?”
The governor remained silent as the images appeared on the main display.
“I don’t understand,” Estall said, still trying to grasp what all the information revealed to Ranul.
“A lot more is going on here than we thought.”
The Saberhawk began to vibrate more as it approached the rift. The dark center was ominous, like some terrible beast wanting to swallow the ship whole. Nothing could be seen beyond. Even their sensor scans revealed nothing about what lay on the other side. No one spoke. All eyes fixed on the approaching void.
Orin continued to watch the instrument readouts, looking for any information about what lay beyond the blackness. He noticed all light repelled by the void along with all sensor scans. Somehow the Vorn had been able to keep communication across the rift, even when it had been in collapse phase. But he wasn’t sure what technology they had employed. The ship shook violently and Millo had to work to remain on course.
“I think the void is trying to repel the ship just like it does energy waves,” said Orin.
“I’ll increase thrust to compensate.”
The Saberhawk lurched forward, struggling against the forces of the transdimensional rift. As they began to enter the void, the turbulence suddenly ceased, and all the gauges and dials on the instrument panel went black.
Only the light from their display was visible as the void engulfed them. The ship seemed to surge forward, even though thruster speed remained constant. When the Saberhawk emerged on the other side, it seemed as though they had emerged to the same space they had come from.
A huge space vessel, blazing under attack, quickly changed their perception. It flew right for them as the Saberhawk emerged from the rift.
“It’s a Vorn ship!” Orin shouted.
The ship was much larger than those stationed at Castai, easily a hundred times the size of the Saberhawk.
Multiple explosions and streams of fast burning gases and chemicals trailed at different points on the ship’s surface. Millo took immediate evasive maneuvers to get away from the vessel as it closed on them at a frightening speed. A burst of main thrusters bore them hard to port away from the damaged ship which continued on by without acknowledging them-driving hard for the rift.
Orin began scanned the ship, trying to find out what was going on. Life-form readings appeared along with various discernable statuses on the vessels current hull integrity and power systems.
“It’s breaking up!” Orin reported. “There are ten thousand people onboard.”
“Burn, baby, burn,” Millo said under his breath as he directed the Saberhawk away from the vessel. Everyone remained tense.
“I’m still not sure what’s causing this,” Orin said.
Tiet and Dorian exchanged concerned glances but remained silent, trying to listen to Orin and Millo as they contemplated this surprising find. As the computer continued to pull data from the vessel, something else appeared on the display.
“I’m not sure what these things are-some sort of spheres-approximately thirty feet in diameter. They’re completely mechanical. There’s quite a number surrounding the hull of the vessel and some on the inside.”
Orin continued his scans monitoring the Vorn ship’s engine systems. “Its reactor core has been breeched. It’s going to blow!”
The large ship ran hard for the transdimensional rift. The sheering forces from the void peeled pieces away from the crippled vessel as it entered the darkness with its entourage of attackers in tow. Just as the front half of the ship sank into the void, it erupted into a white hot ball of flame, quickly fading as all gases and chemicals combusted away. Multiple shockwaves surged away from the rift, tossing the Saberhawk like a toy upon the energy waves.
Dorian shouted, “What’s happening?”
I think the explosion has triggered a reaction in the rift!” Orin shouted as Millo fought hard to bring the Saberhawk back under control. In moments the turbulence passed and the voyage became smooth again.
“I should do a sensor sweep of the quadrant and see where other Vorn ships are and what those things were that destroyed that ship. Maybe we have an ally on this side.”
“Well, whatever they are, they don’t like the Vorn,” Tiet said.
The data on Orin’s display recalibrated to his new search.
“There is a planet nearby,” Orin said. “It’s habitable. The readings look identical to Castai. I’m showing some other activity in the near vicinity. It looks like more Vorn battle cruisers near the planet and an orbiting station of immense size. This planet could be their home. I’m picking up a large amount of random energy fluctuations. It looks like another large explosion of a vessel similar to the one that almost hit us. Take us toward the planet so we can get a better look at what’s happening.”
“Someone is doing all the fighting for us,” Tiet said.
“Weapons and shields are charged and ready. We’re going in,” Millo said as he brought the Saberhawk about on course for the nearby planet. The Saberhawk was a fast ship. The trip at full speed would take about twenty minutes.
TWIN
As they drew near, Orin worked to get a visual of the battle taking place ahead. A tactical map replaced part of the information on the display. Markers representing various sizes of Vorn space vessels moved on the screen as
