CHAPTER 48: CHAR
Charlene
Alien Fleet chamber
Dysons Sphere
Epsilon Eridini
“Now these are some toys the Navy needs to utilize!” Charr exclaimed, her eyes gleaming with excitement as she admired the intricate controls of the command pod she found herself in. With a full fleet communications system at her disposal, an Artificial Intelligence-assisted command structure, and four formidable Dreadnaughts poised at her fingertips, she felt an exhilarating rush of power. “Alpha group, assemble on Beta’s port flank. Delta group, form up on these coordinates.” The neural interface integrated seamlessly, allowing for instantaneous communication between her squads and her command, a marvel of technology that made her feel almost invincible. The design was far superior to the one that had nearly been her undoing, that fateful machine that had set her skull aflame from overuse, pushing the experimental aircraft beyond even the theoretical limits the engineers had crafted.
“Alpha group, Aye.”
“Delta, Aye.” Each group acknowledged their orders with a crispness that conveyed their readiness.
“Beta Group, set up on….” She hesitated, an inexplicable sense of foreboding washing over her. Why was she feeling this way? A strange sensation began to overwhelm her, like a whisper carried on the wind, and then a voice emerged from nowhere, or perhaps from everywhere at once.
“Charr, hide the fleet. Wait for my command.” John's voice boomed, resonating through the chamber, echoing in her very bones.
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“Ay….uh..Aye.” Dazed and momentarily disoriented, she obeyed the command. Uncertain of how to execute the order to hide the fleet, she began to think through the process, her mind racing as she searched the controls for some type of technology that these strange drone ships might possess. Just as she was about to lose hope, the AI chimed in, displaying exactly what she had been seeking without her explicitly asking for it. In an instant, the entire fleet vanished from all known sensors, replaced by manufactured readings that mimicked the space around them. The tech was a scaled-down version of what had concealed the planet in Wolf 359 and had similarly shrouded the entire system of Epsilon Eridini. “Now this could come in handy!” Charr mused, her mind racing with the possibilities of wielding stealth technology on such a small scale.
She waited, her heart pounding, for what felt like hours. Her eyes darted over the readouts, absorbing the capabilities of her fleet and the mighty dreadnaught that was now under her command. If she understood the displays correctly, each ship at her disposal was far more capable than any Federation fleet counterpart. Charr even made a wager with herself, convinced that this dreadnaught could outclass one of the Navy’s Juggernauts despite being only a quarter of its size.
“Ma’am, what are we waiting on?” The pilot for Alpha Squad inquired, his voice breaking through her reverie.
“Ensign, I’m sure we will know it when we see it. Just hold tight, stay in formation, and do not engage anything until I give the orders.” Charr responded, her eyes glued to the wealth of information displayed before her, each section providing detailed readouts of the capabilities and weaknesses of the various classes of drone ships under her command. She could have spent all day—or even an entire year—soaking in this treasure trove of data, but fate had other plans in store. Only a few lines into reading the Destroyers' capabilities, the chamber around her began to hum ominously, a deep vibration resonating through the very fabric of the pod as power surged, feeding every system on the station. Vibrations rattled her surroundings, and power readings skyrocketed, indicating that the moment they had all been anticipating had finally arrived. “Alright ladies, hold for my orders! I don’t know what’s happening, but pain is about to rain down on us!” Charr commanded, her voice steady, even as adrenaline coursed through her veins.