Drift Effect

Chapter 10: Fall

In High Governor Carter's virtual office, she, along with the state Governors of New Carolina, sat in silence around the central circular table. A palpable tension filled the Drift as they anxiously awaited news.

Fifteen minutes ago in real-time, Captain Matterson confirmed the arrival of the alien fleet in the system. He had advised her that he was going to try and communicate with them again, hoping to avert a battle.

The radio silence conveyed to Carter that he had not been successful.

A skirmish was likely unfolding hundreds of millions of miles away, an arduous one given the Captain's lack of communication. Everyone in the room understood the stakes; all but one had military experience. So she followed their lead and waited in silence.

The sudden appearance of the Adjutant finally relieved the oppressive aura in the Drift. Its presence signaled that something had happened. The High Governor found it ironically funny; any news seemed better than no news at all for almost everyone in the virtual office.

"Captain Matterson is on the QEC Emergency Lines. Shall I patch him through?"

"Go ahead, Adjutant," Carter replied steadily.

A holographic window opened, allowing everyone to see the Captain. The older man looked worn, causing Carter to fear the news.

"Governors," Matterson greeted. "Apologies for the silence. It's only now that we've had a lull in the battle.”

"What do you have for us, Captain?" Carter asked.

"Not good news, I'm afraid," the Captain replied. "The alien fleet has a rather skilled Admiral. They anticipated our plan and used that against us.”

More holographic windows appeared, some displaying images, battle maps, while others played videos of the battle. The bulk of them, though, were written reports.

"They split their forces into four groups," Matterson explained. "Sent three of them as recon squads, so we proceeded to ambush them. However, they were waiting for us. They got our ships to gather in a specific area, then fired upon them. We lost three frigates and a destroyer. Their fusion plants went supernova before collapsing, leaving nothing behind.”

Carter felt herself freeze. Four ships lost, and it hadn't been an hour yet. “Who did we lose?” she asked, almost quietly.

“We lost the frigates USS Glenn, Jemison, Whitson, and the destroyer USS Sigurd.”

"Tell me you got the bastards back," Governor Alexis almost growled.

"After their salvo, they had cleared a rather large area of the field," Matterson said. "I used that and had all available destroyers jump to the nearest enemy ships. We destroyed five of them—three small frigates and two cruisers. We also crippled two other cruisers as well.”

"We only got seven of their ships?" Carter asked.

"Take what we can get, High Governor," Governor Whitman said gently, though he looked rather grim.

"Unfortunately, that's not all," the Captain continued. "The earlier skirmish was probably just a feint. Fifteen enemy frigates broke off from their main fleet, traveling at FTL speeds. Our sensors pinged them earlier near the sector that had a wide enough channel in the asteroid field before they went superluminal once more." Matterson frowned. "I believe they are on their way to New Carolina.”

A slight murmur filled the room. While some governors appeared relaxed, nodding as if expecting it, Carter couldn't put up the same brave face. She swallowed, feeling a dry lump in her throat as her hands moved nervously, fingers constantly fidgeting and interlacing, wringing themselves into knots. A gentle hand patted her virtual shoulder, and she glanced to her right to see Alexis giving her a slow nod.