Prophets

Date: 2526.6.3 (Standard) 2,250,000 km from Salmagundi-HD 101534

The bridge of the Voice had become less crowded in the past fifteen minutes. Shortly after seeing the Eclipse, Admiral Hussein had given the order, “Every command officer must return to his ship, and I want each vessel in the fleet crewed, powered, and ready to disengage within the next hour.”

His staff had nodded, a few with widened eyes. Those were the younger men who had not held command long enough to take to heart the old truism, “Battle plans never survive contact with the enemy.”

The more experienced staff had seen immediately what Admiral Hussein had seen. The presence of the Eclipse in the space around HD 101534 changed the entire tenor of their mission here. There was a good chance that they were not making first contact, and that they might face forces from Indi, or Centauri, or even Sirius. Only God Himself knew what might be waiting for them on this planet.

They needed to be ready for it, whatever it was.

The main display on the Prophet’s Voice was dominated by tactical holos. On the main holo, two million kilometers from the green triangle representing the Voice, glowed a dotted yellow line representing the orbital path of the inhabited planet that the Voice was supposed to bring into the Caliphate’s fold. On that yellow line was a small blue sphere representing the planet’s current location.

A little past and above the midpoint between the green triangle and the blue sphere flashed a bright red triangle. Fortunately, there was no sign of any other craft in orbit.

“Any contact with the Eclipse yet?” Captain Rasheed asked the NCO at the communications station.

“No, just the transponder and six distress beacons leaving the ship.”

“Lifeboats?” Hussein asked the captain. “Can we intercept them?”

Captain Rasheed ordered the lifeboats highlighted on the main screen. Six red dotted trails sprang up between the Eclipse and the planet. He stared at the display a moment, as velocity and bearings started to appear next to the six contacts. “No, we can’t ready an intercept craft and get it there before they reach the planet.”

Admiral Hussein rubbed his temple. “The ship itself, can we intercept it?”

The captain nodded, “If we launch a salvage team within the next thirty minutes, we might reach them in two hours.”

“Do it.”

The captain ordered a pair of ships, the Jeddah and the Jizan, to launch on an intercept course. The Jizan was an engineering vessel, capable of repairs and salvage. The Jeddah was a fully-armed drop-ship capable of planetside engagements.

Within half an hour, the tactical display showed a pair of green triangles departing from the Voice and speeding toward the new ship.