The Epherium Chronicles: Echoes Read Free

took everything the EDF had to finally drive them off. Despite the lack of contact with the aliens until now, most of the EDF had been on constant alert for any sign of their return. Perhaps Earth’s people may have forgotten what had happened, but for warship captains like Hood and Styles, the memories were still fresh.
    Styles didn’t trust this new friendly group of Cilik’ti one millimeter. He was doubly certain EDF Command didn’t either. Before the battle, Admiral Tramp had strategically positioned forces to assist the colony, should Hood’s showdown with the Cilik’ti at Cygni turn into a major renewal of their previous conflict. Now that the battle was over, those resources were already working on repairing the colony and the
Armstrong
from the damage. The old man was smart. Styles had to give him that.
    Styles just needed to get these reinforcements and supplies to the colony to ensure its defense. Relying on Earth’s newfound Cilik’ti allies was wrong, plain and simple. If one group of Cilik’ti had attacked the colony, he was certain more attacks would follow. The more he thought about it, the more his mind pounded with the images of the war. He had to talk to Hood when he arrived at Cygni. Perhaps his old friend could sort it all out for him. Frankly, he needed reassurance that the whole situation wasn’t about to go to hell.
    “Captain,” Turnbow called from the
Cestus’s
communication station.
    The voice of his XO brought Styles back from his brief reverie. He closed the manifest display of the
Tanner
and turned back to his XO. “What is it?”
    “Sir, the
Elliot
has informed us they have instability in their space-fold drive. Their engineer says he has it locked down and should be ready to jump with the fleet. All other ships report ready for jump on your order, sir.”
    “Very well,” Styles said. “Inform the
Elliot
we’re the jump tail. We’ll stay with them until they’re clear. Assure them repair teams will be ready to assist if they encounter any problems.” Styles had rotated the fail-safe ship responsibility to the other escorts during their long journey, but for the final jump, he’d called his own number. With the fleet this far out from an established base and the stronger potential for a hostile encounter, it was an easy choice.
    The convoy jump countdown descended inside a minute, and Styles could see the other ships of the convoy begin to power up their space-fold drives. He opened a shipwide comm channel. “Everyone, this is the captain. One more jump, people. Let’s do it by the numbers. We are fail-safe and will jump once everyone is clear. Styles out.”
    Everyone on the bridge watched the translucent blue energy encircle the other ships on their station monitors. Styles initiated the jump order, and ships began to disappear in blue flashes, starting with the other cruisers. All the transports initiated their jump and followed the cruisers to Cygni. The
Elliot
was the last one to disappear.
    Styles smiled as the bulky transport vanished in a successful jump event. “Alright, Mr. Turnbow. All our charges are clear. Let’s join them at Cygni. Initiate jump.”
    “Aye, sir,” Turnbow acknowledged and pressed the key on his terminal to initiate the
Cestus’s
space-fold drive. A translucent blue haze quickly enveloped the cruiser, and its luminesce steadily increased as the space-fold drive reached its critical jump stage.
    Styles braced for the jump event, but microseconds before the drive could complete its cycle and catapult the cruiser to Cygni, the jump envelope collapsed, sending a backwash of energy from the drive rippling through the ship. Waves of raw energy surged into systems on the
Cestus’s
bridge. Sparks erupted from overloaded systems, forcing the command crew to take cover. After the initial surge, the power to functional terminals warbled and slowly faded out.
    Emergency lights engaged, and the red lighting reflected Captain Styles’s mood. Angrily