memory and processing power with every death.
Because of that difference from other species,
Len knew he would have to think carefully about how he deployed the aliens.
That he would use them was a given. The insectoids were totally fearless,
incapable of feeling any kind of individual sense of self-preservation. Only
the species was important, and only the mission of the group was vital to its
existence, as it affected the survival of the race.
About a light minute in from the flagship was
the most important construct going up. The frame was almost completed, three
kilometers on a side, able to handle even the huge superfreighters that would
be bringing materials to this area. Lenkowski looked at the information below
the still uncompleted gate, seeing that the estimated time of completion was a
little under three hours. And then we can start bringing in ships from the
Supersystem , thought the Admiral. Many of those ships would come from the
same force that had just won the battle against the Ca’cadasans, those with
little to no damage. None would have wormholes on board, since it was
considered much too risky to send ships through a wormhole gate with other
holes aboard. Other ships could bring more wormholes out to this region, in
about three weeks to a month, long after the operation had started, and
hopefully finished, successfully. But the technology of wormhole gates would
be primary to this battle, allowing communication between task forces, and in
bringing major fleet forces to bear that could be sent back to the Supersystem
after the battle to be redeployed for the next operation against the Cacas.
We’ll be doing most of our planning on the way , thought Lenkowski,
trying to will the gate to get finished faster, and of course failing to have
any effect on its construction time.
“Show me to my office,” he told one of the
bridge officers, then followed the man to his day cabin just off the main
corridor leading to the flag control room. The office was spacious enough for
several admirals to work in, with holographic windows on the walls looking out
over the local space, beyond the hull that was five hundred meters away from
this most protected area of the ship. It had the feel of an observation room,
without any of the drawbacks.
Len sat at the huge desk and opened the
holographic control panel, getting to work on setting his dispositions and
strategies for the attack. He already knew what was coming through the gate,
and what he had in hand, and now his task was to come up with the best
allotment of forces to get the job done with maximum damage to the enemy, and
the least possible harm to his own fleet.
The time passed by quickly with the mental
effort of work. So quickly that the Admiral was not aware of how much had
gone by, until the com signal brought him back to the here and now.
“They’re coming through, Admiral,” said the
voice from the flag bridge.
Lenkwoski didn’t need to ask who they were. He
got up from his desk after shutting down the holographic control panel, then
headed up the corridor to the flag bridge. More of the stations were manned
now, people monitoring the new arrivals and transmitting their gathering points
to them. The central holo tank showed a couple of new icons moving from the
gate to the outer system, identification text under each. A viewer on the
forward wall was centered on the gate, and the next ship coming through.
It was a standard battleship, fifteen million
tons, with the ID Prince Walter Konev underneath. It came through
almost sedately, since there was no emergency on this end, and no one wanted a
massive warship slamming into the frame of the gate. As soon as it was
completely through, moving at a half kilometer a second, it accelerated away at
a hundred gravities, clearing the vicinity of the gate at almost a kilometer
per second per second. Moments later the nose of the next ship poked through,
repeating
Because of that difference from other species,
Len knew he would have to think carefully about how he deployed the aliens.
That he would use them was a given. The insectoids were totally fearless,
incapable of feeling any kind of individual sense of self-preservation. Only
the species was important, and only the mission of the group was vital to its
existence, as it affected the survival of the race.
About a light minute in from the flagship was
the most important construct going up. The frame was almost completed, three
kilometers on a side, able to handle even the huge superfreighters that would
be bringing materials to this area. Lenkowski looked at the information below
the still uncompleted gate, seeing that the estimated time of completion was a
little under three hours. And then we can start bringing in ships from the
Supersystem , thought the Admiral. Many of those ships would come from the
same force that had just won the battle against the Ca’cadasans, those with
little to no damage. None would have wormholes on board, since it was
considered much too risky to send ships through a wormhole gate with other
holes aboard. Other ships could bring more wormholes out to this region, in
about three weeks to a month, long after the operation had started, and
hopefully finished, successfully. But the technology of wormhole gates would
be primary to this battle, allowing communication between task forces, and in
bringing major fleet forces to bear that could be sent back to the Supersystem
after the battle to be redeployed for the next operation against the Cacas.
We’ll be doing most of our planning on the way , thought Lenkowski,
trying to will the gate to get finished faster, and of course failing to have
any effect on its construction time.
“Show me to my office,” he told one of the
bridge officers, then followed the man to his day cabin just off the main
corridor leading to the flag control room. The office was spacious enough for
several admirals to work in, with holographic windows on the walls looking out
over the local space, beyond the hull that was five hundred meters away from
this most protected area of the ship. It had the feel of an observation room,
without any of the drawbacks.
Len sat at the huge desk and opened the
holographic control panel, getting to work on setting his dispositions and
strategies for the attack. He already knew what was coming through the gate,
and what he had in hand, and now his task was to come up with the best
allotment of forces to get the job done with maximum damage to the enemy, and
the least possible harm to his own fleet.
The time passed by quickly with the mental
effort of work. So quickly that the Admiral was not aware of how much had
gone by, until the com signal brought him back to the here and now.
“They’re coming through, Admiral,” said the
voice from the flag bridge.
Lenkwoski didn’t need to ask who they were. He
got up from his desk after shutting down the holographic control panel, then
headed up the corridor to the flag bridge. More of the stations were manned
now, people monitoring the new arrivals and transmitting their gathering points
to them. The central holo tank showed a couple of new icons moving from the
gate to the outer system, identification text under each. A viewer on the
forward wall was centered on the gate, and the next ship coming through.
It was a standard battleship, fifteen million
tons, with the ID Prince Walter Konev underneath. It came through
almost sedately, since there was no emergency on this end, and no one wanted a
massive warship slamming into the frame of the gate. As soon as it was
completely through, moving at a half kilometer a second, it accelerated away at
a hundred gravities, clearing the vicinity of the gate at almost a kilometer
per second per second. Moments later the nose of the next ship poked through,
repeating
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