Free Galactic Alliance 3: Honor Thy Enemy by Doug Farren

in the fleet operations center deep inside the Rin’Bak . The total-effect virtual reality helmet on his head provided the illusion of his God-like abilities. With a flick of his hands or a turn of his head he could quickly fly to any location in space, bring up the detailed tactical analysis of any chosen target, or put himself in direct communication with a single ship or an entire fleet.
    The Fleet Commander kept a watchful eye on the nearly 200 ships that had been placed under his command. Spread out across a vast area of space, the fleet hung motionless with respect to the position of the fold waiting for it to vanish. The Rin’Bak was one of only four Tholtaran juggernauts in existence. She was a titanic warship of almost inconceivable power.
    The juggernaut had been designed to bring the power of planetary-scale weaponry directly to the enemy. Prior to the Chroniech war only six had ever been built. One had been destroyed by the Humans and one by the Hess. The Chroniech had managed to destroy two more. The Rin’Bak was the first of several replacements and had taken nine years to build in the highly automated Tholtaran shipyards. A second had recently been completed and was undergoing space trials. Three more replacements were under construction but it would be years before they were completed.
    Chomach came from a family with an extensive military background. He could trace his lineage back several hundred years. His great grandfather had fought the Humans in the short-lived war that had erupted shortly after that race had gained the ability to build a stardrive. His father was a renowned scientist developing advanced stardrives for the Alliance.
    Chomach had originally tried to follow in his father’s footsteps and had enrolled in the science academy. Science, however, was not something he enjoyed. Instead, he had spent his spare time reading military history and studying battle tactics. He struggled for two years at the academy before dropping out and joining the Tholtaran navy.
    His father had been bitter over Chomach’s decision but soon became proud of his son as he graduated at the top of his class then proceeded to advance rapidly up the ranks until he now commanded the most powerful ship ever built by his race. His unique background in both science and military tactics made him a formidable Fleet Commander.
    The pre-fold charts showed a star system to be located 1.3 light years from their present position. The validity of this information was verified by the presence of a large mass affecting space at the location specified by the old star charts. The long-range sensors, however, could detect nothing there.
    Starships traversing the Kyrra fold were required to have their navigational systems reprogrammed to account for the oddities encountered in this area of space. The Rin’Bak’s navigational and tactical computers both recognized the presence of the fold and ignored what appeared to be large mass anomalies. Instead, the computers substituted the location of the stars according to the travel distance. It took some getting used to.
    The current charts showed the nearest system to be located 3.7 light years away. Fifteen years ago that same star would have been unreachable because it was located over 1,200 light years from their current position. The Kyrra hyperdimensional field had altered space in an almost incomprehensible manner.
    Nobody, including the infamous Rouldian scientist Falnath, could say for certain what would be seen today when the hyperdimensional field was deactivated. There were plenty of guesses but nobody was willing to go out on a professional limb to predict exactly what would happen.
    “Starshift has been detected!” the senior tactical officer announced.
    “Acknowledged,” Chomach replied. “Power all weapons and standby.”
    The juggernaut’s long-range sensors, operating at faster-than-light speeds, had been locked on the same guide star the Komodo Dragon was watching.