A note from the author
I hope you have enjoyed reading book 2 in the Traci Ganner series, Orion Gambit by Brian Jeffreys. This book was originally scheduled for release late 2010, but parts of it just didn’t sit well with me, so I brought it back in for revision. Since book 3, Glory and Empire, released in January, 2011 to the print market (just in time for Hanukkah and Christmas), I decided to let anyone who wanted to read book 2, do so for free, even after it completes revision on February 15th, 2011.
For those of you who have stuck with me and read the entire work, here is the conclusion of Orion Gambit by Brian Jeffreys.
Chapter 18
Valdi Home World
On the far side of the rift, the Adamantine floated slowly along as its instruments struggled to catch up with the wrongness of traveling through the tear in space. Sensors and detectors had to be reset in order to make sense of the new star patterns and other cosmic inputs they received as a result of suddenly being in an entirely different portion of the universe. This unavoidable moment of confusion had to be patiently endured before the technology of the ship could make sense of its new surroundings. This made a military defense of the rift far more lethal, since any ship that traversed it would be forced through a moment of complete blindness before it could even determine if there was a threat. Traci’s ship was no exception.
The cloaking device was rendered momentarily inoperative while their sensors caught up with the ambient energy sources the chameleon-like circuitry would mimic. CIC struggled to accurately describe the new ship types and classes as they slowly began to form up on the ship’s tactical plot. For a brief moment, neither Traci nor Michael could see anything but a blank screen. After several more tense seconds had passed, the star field appeared once more. But the Valdi warships were conspicuously few in number.
“Commander Zuarit, can you explain what we are seeing on this side of the rift? Shouldn’t we be seeing the Valdi fleet?”
Zuarit also looked at the plot and then shook his head in a gesture he knew to mean a negative response. What the plot showed was a conglomeration of tugs, transports, yachts, and other vessels that seemed barely spaceworthy. In fact, some were not even moving under their own power, but were being towed by the few warships and tugs present on this side.
Zuarit returned to his station as his instruments registered an urgent incoming message from one of the Valdi cruisers. It was being sent in the Valdi style, with light flashes and encoding. Fortunately, his station was capable of descrambling the message and presenting it to him in a manner he could understand.
Traci and her exec walked over to stand next to Zuarit as he read the message.
“Captain,” he said slowly, “this is all that remains of our home fleet. Something terrible has happened to our homeworld.”
“How is that possible?” Traci asked. She was as stunned as Zuarit.
“The Terrans have returned,” Zuarit said flatly.
Traci bit her lip as she struggled to consider what this would mean for their mission. Turning to Michael, she said, “Notify Councilor Agron and the first marshal. We will continue on to the Valdi star and ascertain what happened. I want us to come out of hyperspace as far from Valdi as we can. As soon as possible after we decelerate, I want us back under cloak.”
“Captain,” interrupted Commander Lazarus, “we have visitors.”
Michael turned and stalked over to the master plot, where he could see the indications of a running space battle.
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Orion Gambit - Traci Ganner series book 2
Science FictionThis is the second book in the Traci Ganner series. After her successful campaign as a starship captain (and spy), she had been assigned to Orion's newest cloaking battle cruiser. Now her mission is to make contact with the invading Valdi and nego...
