Read TFS Theseus: The Terran Fleet Command Saga – Book 2 Online
Authors: Tori Harris
“His body? No, Commander, Admiral Naftur was seriously injured earlier today, but came through emergency surgery just fine, thanks to Ambassador Turlaka here,” Prescott replied.
“That’s simply not possible, Captain. We know that his squadron was destroyed by Human forces, no doubt with the help of the Pelaran Guardian, over a month ago,” Takkar growled, his eyes flashing into barely contained fury. “The opportunity to avenge his death is, in fact, the reason most of us are here.”
“Contact!” Lieutenant Lau announced from Tactical 1. “It’s not one we’ve seen before. She’s
big
, sir — thirteen hundred meters.”
“That would be the
Baldev
,” Commander Takkar said with a fierce smile. “Captain Prescott, I will, of course, honor my word not to fire on your vessel, but I cannot speak for Captain Yagani. He is a senior captain, so I expect he will assume command of all Pelaran Resistance forces in the area. Once again, if you would turn over Naftur’s body …”
At that moment, the aft bridge door opened and Doctor Jiao Chen walked onto
Theseus’
bridge pushing a grav chair bearing a tired, but surprisingly alert Admiral Rugali Naftur.
On the view screen, Commander Takkar’s eyes went wide with immediate recognition. “Your Highness!” he gasped, dropping immediately to one knee with his right fist clasped over his heart. Aboard
Hadeon
, the ship’s AI recognized the acting captain’s gesture and widened the field of view to encompass the entire bridge. Within seconds, every visible member of her crew had kneeled and was saluting in similar fashion.
TFC Pine Gap Shipyard Facility
(Northern Territory, Australia - 35 km southwest of Alice Springs)
It had taken “Gamble 22” less than an hour to pinpoint the end of the particle trails marking the location where twenty-six Resistance task force warships had transitioned back to normal space. Possibly chosen to allow their slowest warships to remain within one hour’s flight time of the original rally point, the newly christened “Location Crossbow” was still a respectable 22.9 light days (five hundred and ninety-three billion kilometers) distant. After a final C-Jump back to the Location Dagger comm beacon, the solo F-373 had transmitted its valuable reconnaissance data via NRD net to TFS
Navajo
, where it immediately received Admiral Patterson’s undivided attention.
Seeing an opportunity to gain the initiative for the first time since the Resistance forces began assembling for their attack on Earth, the admiral had quickly made the decision to position all of the C-Jump-capable forces he currently had at his disposal for a surprise attack. Although not nearly as formidable a force as he would have preferred to send, the number of ships indicating a “mission effective” status had increased significantly over the past forty-eight hours …
***
It was already early morning of the following day in the Australian Outback. Shattering the serenity for which the surrounding bronze-colored deserts and rugged canyons are often known, a low frequency rumble echoed through the predawn darkness as the Pine Gap Shipyard’s massive blast doors slowly opened. As the gap between the doors reached two hundred seventy-five meters, a sleek, brownish-grey bow emerged from the dimly lit entrance cavern. Once clear of the shipyard, the
Theseus
-class destroyer
Karna
climbed silently into the sky, shortly thereafter breaking into full sunlight as Earth’s terminator approached from the east.
Less than three minutes later, the
Karna
was joined in line-abreast formation by her five sister ships from the Pine Gap Shipyard Facility. After a brief pause to allow their AIs to execute a series of systems checks, the ships synchronized their departure vectors with two similar flights rising from the Yucca and Yamantau Mountain Shipyards, then disappeared in six simultaneous flashes of grayish-white light.
THANK YOU!
I’d like to express my sincerest thanks for reading
TFS Theseus
. If you enjoyed the book, I would greatly appreciate a quick review at
Amazon.com
, or wherever you made your purchase. It need not be long or detailed, just a quick note that you enjoyed the story and would recommend it to other readers.
I hope you will be interested in the next installment of The Terran Fleet Command Saga. I don’t have a release date, or even the full title as yet, but rest assured that writing is underway, so please stay tuned!
***
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born in 1969, four months before the first Apollo moon landing, Tori Harris grew up during the era of the original Star Wars movies and is a lifelong science fiction fan. During his early professional career, he was fortunate enough to briefly have the opportunity to fly jets in the U.S. Air Force, and is still a private pilot who loves to fly. Tori has always loved to read and now combines his love of classic naval fiction with military Sci-Fi when writing his own books. His favorite authors include Patrick O’Brian and Tom Clancy as well as more recent self-published authors like Michael Hicks, Ryk Brown, and Joshua Dalzelle. Tori lives in Tennessee with his beautiful wife, two beautiful daughters, and Bizkit, the best dog ever.