Synchronicity War Part 1, The Read Online Free PDF Page A

Command Chair and felt the adrenaline
fatigue begin to hit. Even the impact of the final drone was anti-climatic.
There was less visible light from impact #3 versus #2. When he asked the Sensor
Tech if there were any signs of life on board the alien vessel, the answer was
a definitive ‘No, Sir.’ The message drone entered Jumpspace a few seconds
later. It would arrive near where the support ships should be and notify them
that 344 was on its way back.
     
    Just over 10 minutes later, the ship entered Jumpspace. With
the com channel links restored to the rest of the ship, Shiloh ordered the crew
to stand down from General Quarters. When the XO arrived back on the Bridge to
finish what remained of her duty shift, Shiloh said, “Your duty shift will be
over soon. I’ll cover the rest of your shift for you until Michaels takes
over.”
     
    The XO looked at him with sadness in her expression. “Commander
Michaels was killed by that laser hit we took, Sir.”
     
    Shiloh sighed and said nothing for a few seconds. Finally he
spoke, “Michaels was a promising officer. The kind of officer I have a feeling
we’re going to need very badly before this is all over. Okay, Angela. You take
over now and cover the first half of Michaels duty shift. I’ll take the second
half in addition to my own. By the time you relieve me again, we’ll have
reassigned personnel to cover the gaps. Do you need a few minutes break before
you take over here?”
     
    She thought about it briefly before nodding.
     
    “Then go ahead and take a break. Have a coffee and a bite to
eat, and I’ll see you back here in a little while.”
     
    “Thank you, Sir.”
     
    She left, and Shiloh was alone with his thoughts. The more
he thought about their close brush with death, the more worried he became. He
doubted that this would be the last time Humanity encountered that alien race.
He had a terrible feeling come over him that this had been just the opening
skirmish of a much larger conflict, Humanity’s first interstellar war.

Chapter 2 To Fallen
Comrades
     
     
     
    While the 344 was accelerating in preparation for entering Jumpspace,
Shiloh realized that the energy drain from the multiple laser shots fired at
the alien vessel had used up a significant amount of their remaining fuel. In
fact, the ship had barely enough heavy hydrogen remaining to reach the
refueling tankers waiting for them at the other end. The only workable combination
of acceleration and jump time, followed by deceleration, required them to enter
Jumpspace at a slower than normal speed. That meant that not only would the 344
arrive at the exploration mission staging system with very low fuel reserves,
but also that it would likely arrive after the other ships of the squadron.
This in spite of the fact that those ships would have entered Jumpspace after
the 344 did, as a result of passing them while in there. Unfortunately the
means to communicate while in Jumpspace hadn’t been invented yet.
     
    The extra trip time filled him with frustration.  He wanted
to get his injured personnel back ASAP! He knew that in their destination star
system, the Squadron had left behind a collection of support ships including
two small tankers, a supply freighter and a Command/Support ship containing
various support staff like medical personnel, scientists, engineers, etc. The
Command ship could handle most kinds of routine maintenance in order to keep
the Exploration Frigates in the Field as long as possible. Medical facilities
were capable of handling all but the most extreme emergencies. In any case, the
support ship had better medical facilities than did a Frigate, and some of the
344 crew injuries were serious.
     
    Upon arriving back in normal space after a jump transit of
almost 42 hours – versus the usual time of 36 hours for the same distance –
Shiloh was again on the Bridge. He quickly fired off a message to the last
known station of the support ships in the expectation that they still