The Dead Sun(Star Force Series #9)

-25-



The data pouring in from the probes painted a strange picture. The image of the system on the far side of this ring was unlike anything I’d ever seen before. We couldn’t see the whole system as we’d sent the probes in and out so quickly, giving us just a glimpse.

There were planets—but no sun. As a result, the planets were only drifting, frozen hulks, icy blocks of stone and minerals in more or less spherical shapes. In addition, a few of these forlorn worlds had been broken up into asteroid belts due to some past calamity.

“We didn’t leave the probes over there for long, but they picked up a fair amount of data,” Jasmine said. “We can be certain there isn’t a normal star system on the far side of this ring. There’s only wreckage with a lot of ionization and debris.”

Newcome stared at the images that swam into being on our screens with alarm. “Could Marvin’s bomb have been so powerful that it destroyed a star system?” he asked.

The thought had occurred to me. I was just as alarmed as Newcome was, but I laughed off his suggestion.

“We can’t have put out a star!” I said. “No, I think this is the dark place that was always on the far side of this ring. This is a dead system of planets with a dead star in the center. Is there any strong gravitational force that could have been the star? Maybe there was one that went nova long ago and left a dwarf core behind?”

They tapped and analyzed. I could tell my nerds were baffled.

“Maybe,” Jasmine said at last. “There is a gravitational force. It is something bigger than Jupiter but much smaller than a viable sun. It is too small by half to exert the gravitational pull to cause fusion in the core. In other words, it’s too small to ignite and become a star.”

“Place it,” I said, looking at the shadowy contacts. “Then light it up on the boards as if it was a sun.”

After she did so, everything became clear. The gravity well we’d detected was indeed at the center of this grouping of cold planetoids. At the center of the blacked-out system was a large object that didn’t give off heat. It had to be a burned-out star.

“Just as I thought,” I said. “It was a sun once, but now it’s burned out, or blown up, or whatever.”

“Is it possible it’s a neutron star?” Newcome asked.

Jasmine shook her head. “Insufficient mass.”

“Looks like we’ve discovered something new,” I said. “Whatever we call it, there are still planets circling around this dead star, providing something for the Macros to mine. They aren’t afraid of the dark.”

“Such a lonely place,” Jasmine said, staring at it. “The chemical signatures I’m reading indicate the star once burned, but this is a dead system. It will be like walking through a graveyard to travel through it.”

“What about defenses?” I demanded. “What do the Macros have?”

“The probes didn’t report anything dangerous. There was a lot of debris around the ring with high metallic content but nothing that poses more than a navigational hazard.”


“Hmm,” I said thoughtfully. “High metallic content you say? I bet they had a trap set up. Maybe something like the laser firing-squad Crow set up on the Sol ring but more intense. The trap had been destroying our probes for years, but now Marvin’s bomb took it out.”

I grabbed hold of my com-link and opened the general command channel. Instantly, I was put in contact with every commander in the fleet.

“All ahead full!” I shouted. “Execute Invasion Plan Alpha immediately.”

I closed the channel. Newcome and Jasmine looked alarmed.

“Sir?” Newcome said, speaking up first. “Don’t you think we should send in another set of probes? If they took a little longer to look around, say ten or twenty minutes this time—”

“No,” I said. “Let’s cross into their system before the enemy can get on their feet and mount an effective defense. The door is open, and I’m not going to let them slam it closed again.”

Everyone scrambled to obey my orders. The ring couldn’t handle the entire fleet at once, of course. Fighters swarmed in, followed by a long line of cruisers. After that, if disaster didn’t strike the initial invaders, the carriers, transports and support ships would join them on the far side.

We watched our fleet surge forward and thin out into a column of ships. The first entered and vanished. I felt my guts churn. Heading into the unknown was always the hardest part of a space battle for me. I preferred to be in the thick of it with an enemy in my sights. Our battleship was still on the wrong side of the ring and would remain so for quite some time while waiting its turn to wriggle through into enemy territory.

I felt helpless and uncertain, cut off from a growing portion of my fleet. If things were going badly, I wouldn’t be able to fix anything.

“Newcome,” I said, “you have command of this side of the invasion force. I’m taking a pinnace to the Andoria. I’m going through right now.”

The Andoria was a cruiser of our latest type. It was big, sleek and deadly. It was also about to slip through the ring. If I transferred to that ship, I’d be in the system a full hour before the carrier would finally wallow through.

I almost made it to the airlock when Jasmine caught up with me.

“Wow,” I said, laughing, “you sure move fast for a pregnant lady.”

“Shh!” she shushed me, putting a finger to my lips and frowning. “That’s a secret! And besides, I’m a nanotized, barely-pregnant lady.”

I went for a good-bye kiss, but she dodged me.

“Why are you doing this, Kyle?”

“I can’t stand waiting. The whole battle could play out on the far side of this ring while I’m sitting in the caboose. I should never have declared my flagship as one of the last in the line.”

She looked down and glowered at my chest.

“What?” I asked. But I knew the answer before she spoke.

“I don’t want you to go. That system looks creepy—dead. It’s a graveyard.”

“Yeah, so? Stars go nova all the time.”

She shook her head. “Not like that. It looks strange. I’ve seen astronomical imagery of a thousand systems. There should be a dust cloud if there was a stellar explosion, and a lot of radiation, too. We aren’t reading any of that.”

“What do you think it is, then?”

“It is a dead system, yes, but what if it experienced a new kind of calamity: something that sheared most of the mass of their sun away? Or what if the trap you spoke of, the weapons system that’s been destroying our probes, is far stranger than we understand it to be?”

I laughed and hugged her. “That’s crazy. Stop worrying. I know you’re feeling paranoid right now, that’s normal in your condition. Don’t worry, I won’t die or vanish. I’m going to be fine. Now, get back up to the bridge and command your ship. Newcome needs you.”

I kissed the top of her head and entered the airlock. She didn’t go up to the bridge, however. She pressed up against the tiny circular window and stared into the airlock, watching me. I did my best to smile and wave and pretend I was as happy and carefree as the proverbial clam.

But I wasn’t. Even as I rode over to Andoria, I felt the same sort of disquiet Jasmine was obviously feeling. I had to wonder if I’d just said goodbye to her for the last time.

It was this newly discovered system. It was alien, in an entirely new way. A school of dead planets circling an equally dead larger carcass in the center, a mass that had to have once been a shining star. Strange.

Had those worlds been alive with people living on them at one time? Perhaps biotic species we’d never meet? Were they erased from time and history as thoroughly as it was possible to be?

That idea was upsetting me. I knew the others were thinking about it, too. We weren’t just feeling mid-mission combat jitters. We were encountering the unknown, and like humans throughout time, we didn’t like it.

The captain of Andoria was surprised to see me, to put it mildly. But she made no complaints and gave me no attitude.

Captain Nomura was one of my better captains, a stern type who ran her ship tightly. She wasn’t tall, but she had broad shoulders and breasts that jutted out from her uniform like apples because she held herself so rigidly. Her black hair had been trimmed almost as short as a jarhead. Her face was attractive despite a complete lack of makeup.

Nomura led me personally up to the bridge. To my credit, I managed not to study her trim figure too closely. People were watching.

“Colonel on the Bridge!” shouted a marine at the hatch.

A dozen people snapped salutes to me. I wasn’t accustomed to this, especially not when we were in a combat zone. Maybe the captain had ordered them to snap to attention when I boarded. Whatever the case, I saluted in return and moved directly to the command table.

Everyone on the bridge acted like they had a broomstick for a spine, and there wasn’t a smile to be had when they greeted me. I did my best not to notice. I allowed captains to run their ships the way they wanted within Star Force regs. It was a tradition that dated back to our formation as an organization.

“Captain Nomura,” I said, addressing the zealous commander. “Is your ship in good condition?”

“It’s in flawless operating condition, sir,” she said.

Her response was a little intense, and I didn’t know her that well, so I simply nodded. I might have chuckled at anyone else. I’d heard she didn’t have much of a sense of humor, and I could see the rumors were correct. The woman rarely even blinked her large, dark eyes.

“When do we go through the ring?” I asked.

She glanced at her table. I saw her eyes fix on a timer that had been placed in one corner.

“We have less than two minutes to go, Colonel. May I say it’s an honor to serve in your presence. I hope my crew doesn’t disappoint you.”

“Uh, I’m sure they’ll do fine.”

No one else said a word. I figured they didn’t dare to, that talking unnecessarily on this bridge wasn’t allowed.

In the back of my mind, I was beginning to feel a little sorry for her crew, but I didn’t say anything. The ring loomed closer on the screens, and I braced myself. Sure, all the reports said this was going to be like a walk in the park…but I never fully trusted probes and scouts. Sometimes an enemy held back their surprises until the cat was fully ensconced in the bag. I was still worried this was one of those times.