Starship Vengeance

Chapter 37

The Nyth fleet had been hit hard. I fought hard to keep my face neutral as the live video feed displayed the damaged ships. "Send a message to Ayrn'Na'Teck and extend an invitation to join me on the Unity," I instructed Lt. Foster. We were skirting around a cloud of wreckage that had been jettisoned. Small autonomous repair craft were busy collecting and repurposing the debris. The position the Nyth had fallen back to and were maintaining was several light days away from the Zrynt and far from any powerful energy sources, so they were forced to make do with the supplies they had on hand for their repairs.

"Sir, Ayrn'Na'Teck sent a reply. She is politely declining your invitation. She has her hands full trying to fix her fleet."

"I suppose I should have seen that coming," I replied.

"Admiral, the Stargazer is attempting to establish communications," Lt. Foster reported several minutes later.

I nodded to her and Commander Azevedo's face appeared on the main screen. "Yes commander?" I asked.

"Sir, may I suggest we begin repair operations immediately? Some of these ships look like they're barely holding together."

"I have yet to confer with Ayrn, but it sounds like you already have some ideas. What did you have in mind?"I asked.

"I recommend deploying all battleships to four bravo golf six three to begin building repair infrastructure. The system is clear of hostiles and has a small red dwarf that should provide sufficient power for repairs. Meanwhile, repair crews can stay and assist with the critically damaged ships."

"Alright. Since this is your brainchild, you will assume command of the battleships and begin construction immediately. There should be sufficient nanites on board your ships to get things started. Send me your mission plan when it's ready." I nodded at Lt. Foster who terminated the connection. I had barely taken a breath when my systems notified me of a high priority message. Commander Azevedo had already worked out the mission plan well before her call to me. I verified the information and gave it my stamp of approval. A moment later, the battleships were gone.

"Lt. Foster, alert all repair crews that their services will be required. Authorize them to use whatever resources we have stored. Contact the Nyth and get our crews to where they are needed the most." Lt. Foster acknowledged the order and went to work coordinating with the various groups.

The repair crews were shuttled off, along with a significant amount of raw materials and nanites. "Lt. Foster, would you so kind as to open a ship wide comm for me," I asked.

"Ready when you are Admiral," she reported after a moment.

"All hands, we are now at threat level Bravo. All personnel are to report to assigned areas for emergency equipment checkout immediately. We are in the vicinity of a Zrynt Lord and I want everyone to remain alert. Soon we will have vengeance. Admiral Ryan out."

I turned again to Lt. Foster. "Send word to organize remaining ships into patrols. Contact engineering and see what ideas they have for establishing a sensor net as well."

The tension among the crew was palpable. This was the moment the fleet had trained for. Having the Zrynt so close without being able to attack was frustrating, to say the least. Lucky for us, the Zrynt Lord seemed content to sit and guard whatever it was they were so determined to build. Several hours later, the ship's engineers had a solution for deploying a sensor net. With the aid of the ship's fighters, modified probes were placed in predetermined locations far enough away from where the fleet was gathering to give us at least a few precious minutes notice if the Zrynt decided to attack. The coverage wasn't as good as I could have hoped, but when combined with active patrols, I was fairly certain we would have enough advanced warning of incoming hostiles.