Synchronicity War Part 1, The Read Online Free PDF

would be
there. Because 344 had emerged from Jumpspace at the outer edge of the star
system, the signal would take hours to reach the gas giant where the tankers skimmed
for heavy hydrogen when necessary to top up their tanks. And since the ship
emerged from Jumpspace with the same velocity that it had entered Jumpspace,
the 344 was moving towards the inner part of the system less quickly than
normal. In order not to fly past the gas giant, the ship would have to
decelerate. That would require pretty much all their remaining fuel, and the
possibility that the tankers might not be where Shiloh had last seen them made
him sweat. They SHOULD be there. But the Demon God Murphy sometimes reached
down to muddy the waters, or as someone else long ago once said, ‘shit
happens’. So it was with great relief that almost 13 hours after dropping back
into normal space, 344 received acknowledgement from the support ships that
they were ready to refuel the 344 and take care of the wounded.
     
    Shiloh received some other news as well. The message drone
had arrived. As expected, some but not all of the rest of the Squadron had
arrived ahead of 344. They were about to rendezvous with the support ships. The
bad news was that the 301 and 299 had been ambushed by at least three other
alien ships, roughly fifteen minutes after 344’s short, violent clash with her
opponent. Squadron Leader Torres had explicitly ordered the other four frigates
not to come to 301 and 299’s aid, because active scanning had confirmed the
fact that there were even more alien ships waiting to pounce once the other
frigates got within range. She ordered the rest of the Squadron to retreat to
the staging system. Communications with both the 301 and the 299 were lost
while they were still fighting for their lives. No one knew what the ultimate
outcome was, but the odds for survival were not good. Torres had also
communicated her belief that the ambush had been triggered early as a response
to 344’s confrontation with the alien vessel. Had it not been for that, Torres
believed that the entire Squadron would have been attacked once they had
regrouped. Her recorded message praised Shiloh for deploying the recon drones
and, as a result, springing the trap early enough that half the Squadron could
get away unharmed. The tone of that recording, combined with the unknown fate
of both ships, made the message particularly poignant. After sharing it with
the crew, Shiloh asked all off-duty officers and NCOs to assemble in the
Officers’ Mess where they raised a solemn toast to fallen comrades. Shiloh was
absolutely certain that it would not be the last such toast he would
participate in.
     
    By the time that 344 entered orbit around the gas giant and
rendezvoused with the support ships and the rest of the Squadron, the other
frigates had already been refueled. Carrying all of the data from each of the
surviving frigates, another fresh message drone was already in Jumpspace on its
way back to a forward Space Force base. There the data would be further
disseminated via another drone, and so on. Shortly before commencing refueling
operations, Shiloh participated in a video conference with the other Frigate
skippers and support ship COs. They wanted to hear about 344’s battle first
hand and then compare notes. The general consensus was that all the alien ships
were more heavily armored, and armed with more powerful laser cannon, than
their Space Force counterparts. 323’s Skipper, Cmdr. Omar, in his capacity as
acting Squadron Leader – being the most senior officer present – had declared
his intention to wait another six hours. Then, if neither missing ship showed
up during that time, the four combat capable frigates would return to the
battle system to search for survivors. Omar had told Shiloh that since the 344
had a damaged hull and crew casualties, with no operational laser turrets left,
he would order it to head back to Sol System for repairs. Shiloh thought