Free The Search for Gram by Chris Kennedy Page A

stargates go to chains of star systems,” said Nightsong. “One of them, the gate to 14 Herculis, leads to where the frost giants live. The other goes to a system owned by hostile insectoids. It is unlikely they are to blame. Although they have space flight capabilities, they have some sort of hive mind and tend to stay close to their home world. If they go too far away, they go insane.”
    “So you are recommending the gate to 14 Herculis?” asked the CO.
    “That would be my guess,” replied Nightsong. “The giants are our traditional enemies and have no reason to wish us well. If they somehow made a technological breakthrough which gave them the ability to destroy our ships, they certainly would. My only question is, if they have the capability to destroy our ships, why haven’t they shown up at Golirion to take back Asgard? It doesn’t make sense for the giants to be the ones responsible for the loss of our ships; however, it makes even less sense for it to be anyone else.”
    “Perhaps there is an unknown race or some other factor that has yet to make its appearance,” suggested Steropes.
    Nightsong shrugged, something he had learned from the Terrans. “I do not know. We have explored many systems further down both chains of stars and never found a hostile race. That is why we moved the giants where we did.”
    “Well, we’re not going to find out anything sitting here,” decided Captain Sheppard. “Helmsman, proceed to the stargate to 14 Herculis.”
     
     

Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf , 14 Herculis, Jun 13, 2021
    “System entry,” said Steropes. “Launching probes.”
    “Contact!” said the Defensive Systems Officer (DSO) and Steropes at the same time.
    “What have you got, DSO?” asked Captain Sheppard.
    “I’m picking up a lot of power spikes, Skipper,” replied the DSO. “I’m still locking it in.”
    “Can you provide any more information, Steropes?” asked Captain Sheppard.
    “Yes, I believe I can,” said Steropes. “Give me a second, and I’ll have it on screen.” He paused for a few moments, and the picture of a Super-Earth planet appeared on the screen…along with the fuzzy image of a ship in orbit. “Based on the Aesir star charts, we are in the 14 Herculis system. The star is an orange dwarf with about 9 0 percent of your sun’s mass, 7 1 percent of its radius and 3 6 percent of its luminosity. The star has a lot more—”
    “ What about the ship? ” demanded Captain Sheppard.
    “Oh! Yes!” said Steropes. “The ship is a quite large. Initial analysis indicates it is approximately a mile and a half long, with a mass of nearly six million tons.”
    Calvin shook his head. “Another damn giant-sized ship to fight. I am so looking forward to a battle where we have the larger ship.”
    “Battles do not always go to the largest ships,” said Steropes. “In this case, however, you are more correct than you know. I believe it actually is a giant ship, as it is crewed by the Jotunn. Although the ship is equivalent in size to a Mrowry dreadnought, it is a Jotunn battlecruiser. It is orbiting a Super-Earth planet in the star’s habitable zone. There is also a gas giant about twice the mass of Jupiter three AU from the star and a planet about five times the mass of Jupiter seven AU from the star.”
    “Sir!” interrupted the communications officer, “we’re being hailed by the ship.”
    “On screen,” said the commanding officer.
    “Damn,” said the helmsman, in awe, as the screen lit up to show an enormous humanoid. Although hard to tell, as everything around him was oversized, the being seemed colossal. Dressed in red-spotted pelts, the Jotunn had a chain-metal shirt over his torso. Light blue hair flowed out from under an outsized helmet with immense horns. The Jotunn’s red eyes glared as he slowly surveyed the bridge of the Vella Gulf .
    “Whoa,” said Calvin under his breath. “He’s got to be 13 or 14 feet tall.”
    Steropes shook his head. “Probably more