"Admiral Vuto's campaign fleet has begun to transition through to the Collectorverse, ma'am," a nor'kani officer reported over her shoulder to a thoughtful Tovin, who looked up from a data tablet to let her gaze roam over New Retribution's main war room.
"Very good, C Campaign," she replied. "Get as much telemetry as is physically possible before the wormholes close and lock us out," the Risen supreme commander directed.
"Yes, ma'am," the officer replied, already working hard over their interface.
"Grid Command, alert all assets on system-wide to go to alert status one. If the Collector reacts to our fleet's presence by sending gatherers in to target Earth, I want us to be ready."
As the addressed officer began to relay that order, Tovin turned to the war room's primary comms station.
"Comms, get me Unit 3. I want to move the remaining Sword assets into high Earth orbit to cover us from the Lagrange points in case the gatherers get through our first line defenses."
"Unit 3 acknowledges," the Comms officer reported. "The Swords are moving into position now. And I have all-ready confirms from Ares Base, Ganymede, Titan, Neptune and Pluto. Standing by for the remaining stations on grid."
"Top Down, what's your status?" Tovin asked even as she acknowledged the Comms officer's report with a nod.
"Showing all clear above the plane of the ecliptic," yet another officer reported. "TDS also has eyes on both C Campaign's transition point and K Campaign's muster point and they are reading no irregular activity at either. Scans for incoming slipstream and hyperspace traffic are also clear."
Again Tovin nodded, this time with satisfaction. The beginning of their newest two-front war against the Collector and the K'ethik seemed to be without a hitch. She could only hope it continued to be that way. Now to see just what was happening with the K'ethik Campaign's fleet, which seemed to be a bit slow in getting out of the blocks.
"K Campaign, what's the status on your outbound fleet?"
"Admiral Tusk confirms the Risen portion of the fleet is in position, but the Vanguard assets are still maneuvering," another officer several work stations over from the C Campaign liaison, indicated. "Sub-Admiral Aetohk humbly requests audience to explain."
Tovin's expression tightened. Despite an infinite capacity for patience and diplomacy, the veteran psyren did not like dealing with the Vanguard's nehvest officers. Not because they were difficult; quite the opposite, actually. No, it was because of what they most recently were.
"Very well, K. Patch Aetohk through."
One of the holo-displays out on the main viewing floor shimmered to life before photonic light was sculpted into a miniature nehvest officer in full Vanguard battle armor. The figure quickly bowed.
"Supreme Commander," it rumbled in a nehvest's hard voice.
"Sub-Admiral Aetohk. What word do you bring?" Tovin quickly replied, familiar with how the nehvest liked to get to the point."
Aetohk straightened and began to speak.
"Vanguard fleet elements have encountered several mobile swarm clouds," the nehvest officer began, "and have incurred losses trying to slow them down."
Tovin's frown returned with a hard twist.
"Mobile swarm clouds?" she repeated and Aetohk nodded.
"The K'ethik are using some sort of magnetic field drive that we haven't seen before to gain this newfound mobility," it replied. "Operations and Tactics suggests they may have gained the tech from one of the planets they recently subsumed."
Tovin gestured dismissively.
"It doesn't matter how they got it, Sub-Admiral, only that they have it," she said. "Is this new tech the reason the Vanguard fleet elements attached to our task force have yet to fall in?"
"Affirmative, Supreme Commander," Aetohk replied without hesitation. "High Command is rushing additional assets to our muster point in an effort to counter the escalating threat."
Tovin found herself nodding. It made sense to bring in more ships if the clouds, already pretty damn effective in battle, could now move of their own accord. They could afford to wait, if those additional ships would make up the difference between victory and obliteration.
"Very well, Sub-Admiral, we'll wait for your reinforcements to arrive before embarking. What's their ETA?"
"They are currently inbound, Commander. Five Earth minutes until they breach hyperspace," was the swift answer.
Nodding even as she pointed to her K Campaign liaison, the veteran psyren went on.
"Advise Tusk of the delay and the ETA. And Comms, get the command team in here. They'll need to be on top of this thing," she directed before returning her attention to Aetohk. "Your information has added urgency to our effort, Sub-Admiral."
"High Command agrees, Supreme Commander," the nehvest replied. "The attached Vanguard elements under my command are ready to wormhole transition as soon as our assets breech."
"Which means we need targets reflecting that urgency," Tovin noted. "Tactical, what do you have for us?"
"Wormhole-capable probes out of New Oblivion had identified several targets of opportunity, but those were subsumed planets or stationary swarm clouds," the Tactical officer replied as they worked over their interface. "We're retasking a number of those probes now, using current combat status briefs available on the Vanguard Operations and Tactics network, to see if we can spot one of those mobile clouds."
"ETA to nearest probable target?" Tovin pressed.
"Thirty seconds, Commander, from my mark. Mark."
30 seconds. Tovin's expression tightened slightly. A lot could happen in 30 seconds. Especially if they're flying in blind. Maybe the Vanguard's battle data could give them an idea of what they were in for.
"Do those briefs have sufficient data in them to paint us a picture of the target area?" she asked.
"Checking now, Commander. If they do, I'll route it directly to one of the primary holo-displays," the Tactical officer indicated. "Tapped in and running a search. There! Got something, ma'am. Running it through a translation matrix and routing it to the display now."
Cooper, one of Max's most reliable commanders, was just stepping into the war room when the display came alive with an uneasily shifting blob of silver and black.
"Mobile swarm clouds?" he asked as he came to a halt beside Tovin to join her in staring at the image. "When did this bloody happen?"
"Just now," Tovin replied before making a gesture at Aetohk's image. "The Vanguard encountered them in a number of skirmishes within the last half hour." She looked over at the frowning British Risen. "They're sending additional assets to bolster the fleet."
Cooper threw a surprised look back at her.
"Are we seriously thinking of taking on one of those?" he asked, a brow lifted in question. "The stationary clouds are bad enough. We should get a bit more information before we rush to hit a moving one. Like what the bloody hell makes them move."
"My colleague makes a good point," the African regional commander, Kisasi indicated as she and the rest of the command group joined them. "If they've absorbed additional technology to give themselves flight capability, they could've also bolstered their defensive and offensive capabilities."
"I say we just hit them and find out," Ulyana, the Russian commander retorted. "If we just send probes to investigate, we could lose valuable time."
"Which brings up the question: just how much time do we have?" the Scandinavian commander, Brynhild asked.
"Only one way to find out," Yamato, the Japanese commander said as he stepped forward. "Who's pulling this image data together for us?"
Tovin glanced at Aetohk's silent image before she replied.
"The Vanguard's Operations and Tactics database."
"Ah. That would explain that fellow's presence. Can we look at all of their encounters over the last hour?"
"Tactical, make it happen," Tovin commanded.
"On it, ma'am," the Tactical officer replied even as several of the display units began to come to life. Moments later they were all filling with images almost identical to the first.
"Now, can you make a composite image with all of their relative positions linked together?" Yamato said as they all leaned forward to intently look at the new images.
"Running the translation matrix now, commander," Tactical replied. "Routing the positional data to the main holo platform in the center."
Easily the largest of the displays, the center platform spun light into what appeared to be a segment of a galactic arm.
"Now, using velocity and directional data, extrapolate the origin points for those clouds," the intent Japanese Risen directed. Nodding, the Tactical officer worked over their interface for a few seconds before glowing lines began to appear on the star map.
As the gathered commanders trooped out onto the display floor to get a closer look at the star map, the K Campaign liaison suddenly piped up.
"Admiral Tusk reports multiple hyperspace tracts inbound," they reported.
"Confirmed," the Top Down Station coordinator added. "They'll breach in approximately 60 seconds."
"The additional assets High Command is sending to bolster the fleet," Aetohk indicated, speaking for the first time since the command staff's arrival. "We are in communication with the flotilla commander."
"Very good, Sub-Admiral. Please advise us when you are ready to jump," Tovin replied.
"Affirmative, Supreme Commander. Aetohk out." And the nehvest's image disappeared.
"You'd think that big bastard would be interested in what we're doing with their data," Cooper said dryly.
"I suspect they already know," Harris, the Australian Risen commander said, arms folded as he traced the lines connecting the recorded encounters with a central point several parsecs distant. "That's why they're reinforcing their fleet."
Abruptly the veteran Risen paused to look at one of the miniaturized images, eyes narrowed. Then he was looking over his shoulder at the much larger original.
"Bloody hell, is that a planet?" he asked out loud.
Instantly every eye swung onto the larger original image. The muttering began when they confirmed that the bulge on the cloud's distal edge was, indeed, a planet in the late stages of being completely engulfed by the cloud.
"Does that data fragment have anything on what's going on, on the surface?" Ulyana asked without taking her eyes off the image.
"Tactical?" Tovin said, passing on the question
"The Vanguard squadron that discovered this particular cloud reported the planet was already half covered when they arrived," the Tactical officer replied, reading from a screen filled with translated text. "Since the planet's status was unknown, the squadron's commander decided to not engage and run the risk of damaging the surface. However, they did take a series of sensor sweeps before leaving the system."
Tactical paused there to look up at the gathered commanders.
"Their sensors picked up signs of heavy fighting in multiple locations."
"Whoever they are, they're trying to defend themselves against whatever the K'ethik are doing to them," Kisasi noted. "We should make that cloud our first target. Perhaps we can arrive there in time to save the planet's inhabitants."
"I concur," Tovin said even as the other commanders nodded in agreement. "K Campaign, send the coordinates for that system to the fleet and advise Tusk that their first priority is intervention and recovery. Let's see if we can save those people."
"The Admiral acknowledges and reports that the additional Vanguard assets are now in position. They are prepping to open wormholes to the target coordinates now."
"I only hope we're in time," Kisasi said with a shake of her head. "That cloud is larger than anything we've seen before. Big enough to directly attack a planet."
The African Risen looked over at her colleagues.
"This changes everything."
"It changes nothing!" Ulyana fired back, her expression suddenly hard. "The K'ethik are merely confirming to the galaxy the lengths they are willing to go to support their agenda."
"Which we still don't know," Cooper cautioned. The Russian quickly rounded on him.
"Don't we?" she asked tautly. "I think it's obvious. The K'ethik have taken the Velkin's place as conquerors. If we don't stop them, nobody will."
"We're already engaged in the effort ..." Tovin began, trying to de-escalate. But the fiery Russian Risen wasn't having it.
"Are we, Tovin?" she fired back. "If Max was here, he would've had the fleet already in place, attacking ..."
"But Max isn't here, Ulyana!" Tovin interrupted to tightly remind her. "He's gone after sacrificing himself to see the last of his company to safety before they were crushed by a black hole." She paused slightly to scan over the rest of the command staff's faces.
"All that's left is us. And while we're not World Entity-blessed juggernauts like Max was, we're the best hope the galaxy has right now to avoid being destroyed by an inexplicable K'ethik offensive. But we'll fail if we don't stay focused on the task at hand and not fly apart."
Tovin swung her eyes back onto Ulyana and her compressed-lip expression of doubt.
"That includes you, Commander Ulyana," she tautly reminded the Russian Risen. "If you can't keep it together, I'll find somebody who can."
For a long moment Ulyana returned Tovin's challenging stare with a hard look of her own, long enough that the psyren began to think she would actually have to replace her. Then abruptly the Russian Risen was turning away.
"I'll stay on task, commander," she hissed in capitulation. "As long as we have a task at hand."
"Good enough," Tovin said, fighting to keep the relief out of her voice along with a bit of happiness that the first challenge of her authority had gone her way. "Now, let's do what we can to help those people under attack by that cloud, yes?"