Odyssey One 5: Warrior King Read Online Free PDF Page B

actually more akin to being boiled than being disintegrated, which, as Eric thought about it, sounded so much worse. The transition drive stimulated a direct phase shift from solid matter to a tachyon state, a form of matter so unstable as to be virtually nonexistent in the universe. The change lasted only an infinitesimal period of time, by the end of which the phase shift reversed and the ship and contents returned to their normal state, dozens of light-years away from where they had started.
    The process was, in a very real sense, true teleportation without any of the moral ambiguities of trying to construct an energy-conversion system. Unfortunately, transitioning didn’t work reliably near significant gravity wells.
    The system would charge and initiate a phase change, but as Eric had himself proven during a series of trials of the new Heroic Class, gravity wells could scatter the tachyons and prevent reformation.
    Eric had given himself many a nightmare by winning that series of mock combat exercises, and probably taken a few years off the lives of some politicians who had thought the transition technology made Earth’s forces effectively invincible. Since gravity could scatter tachyons, and thus prevent proper reintegration, putting too much trust in transition technology when you were dealing with ships literally powered by gravity fields . . . well, it wasn’t the smartest thing in the world. The things a singularity drive could do to an emerging transition would not be possible in any fair universe.
    “Captain, we’re being challenged,” Ensign Sams announced.
    Eric looked up, mildly surprised as he checked the time stamp.
    “Already? Okay, I’m impressed,” he admitted. “They’ve improved their detection net. Who is it?”
    “The Priminae vessel Posdan , Captain.”
    “Is she a Heroic?” Eric asked, frowning. He didn’t think so, but it was hard sometimes to keep the Priminae naming convention in his mind.
    “No sir, pre-Alliance design. Similar, but no transition technology, adaptive armor, or multiclass lasers.”
    “Ah.”
    It was one of the original “giants with clubs” that both the Priminae and the Drasin had fielded and that the Odyssey had spent so many hours trying to avoid during their first battles.
    “Well, send our bona fides,” he ordered. “How close is she?”
    “Eighteen light-seconds and closing, on a combat intercept course.”
    “Light off our colors.”
    “Aye aye, sir.”
     
    ►►►
     
    Priminae Vessel Posdan
     
    ► Captain Kian of the Posdan stepped onto the command deck of his ship, looking around at others who were already at their positions.
    Not bad. Reaction times are getting better, he thought.
    They should be, he knew. The crew had been drilling nearly constantly, working to improve what had once been an honestly disgraceful apathy that had infected the fleet.
    “Report.”
    “New contact, Captain. Likely transitional signature,” the instrument specialist replied. “We’re waiting on challenge response.”
    Kian relaxed slightly, nodding. A transitional signature meant it was a returning Heroic or, most likely, one of the Terran ships. It was almost certainly not a Drasin vessel or squadron at any rate, so the Posdan was unlikely to be going into combat.
    As much as he hated to admit it, that was a good thing.
    His ship, as much as he loved it, could hardly go toe-to-toe with a small Drasin squadron. The most likely outcome of such a conflict was mutually assured destruction, and that was really the best he could realistically hope for. His orders in such an event were to fall back as much as he could without risking the safety of the planet, delaying the enemy until one or more of the Heroics were in position to intercept.
    His Posdan was less than two cycles old and already obsolete, a realization that chafed Kian slightly.
    “Challenge response. It’s the—”
    The word of who it was died in the specialist’s throat as the image on the