Arrival

Admiral Darren watched the display as the timer hit 10. Then looking up he began issuing orders to the bridge. Orders he had given countless times in the past, but now with them came a surge of adrenaline he hadn't felt since his first time doing so...

"Ops, coordinate fleetwide deceleration, slave all nav computers through the Nemesis central control."

"Helm, take us down to threshold velocity, keep ahead of the curve."

"Tactical, reconfigure magnetic field for reversion to normal space."

His mind was alert, racing. His mouth was giving the orders in quick succession, the crew was following them perfectly. He looked at the timer again, 7 minutes. A slight vibration passed through the deck, the enormous mass of the flagship adjusting its position relative to normal space as the velocity slowed. The vibration ceased as the magnetic field adjusted to compensate, following the curve precisely.

"Delta formation looks good. Keep the heavy cruisers close enough to overlap the frontal displacement wave."

5 minutes. Looking at the forward viewscreen, Darren could see the angled line of heavy cruisers in perfect formation, their magnetic shielding interlocked. Normally when reverting to realspace, individual ships would be spaced well apart from each other so as to escape ill effects of mass displacement from other nearby vessels also reverting. But in a fleet as huge as the one they were in this time, that was simply not possible. The ships in the fleet had to be close enough together so their magnetic shields would overlap, reinforcing each one to the effect of making them essentially a single object. The delta line formation reverting just ahead of the Nemesis and the rest of the fleet would, theoretically, shield them from reversion displacement, which with this much mass would effectively pulverize their hulls...

3 minutes. The blue status lights winked to yellow. Velocity was down to .5 above threshold. Another vibration coursed through the deck. "Steady helm, keep us in formation," he said, his voice a belying calm. The vibration passed and he let out a quiet breath.

1 minute. Velocity at .2 above threshold. Ahead of them the line of heavy cruisers wavered visibly as it hit the threshold and began to transition. He took a breath, all he could do was wait, and hope the miracle of technology proved itself yet again.

Threshold. The space ahead of them lit a brilliant white as the fabric of subspace split open and the Nemesis and her entourage emerged into normal space. The whole ship shuddered as it transited out, but everything held. The status lights winked to green. The timing had been perfect, the formation had held. Admiral Darren let out a long sigh and leaned back in his chair. Excellent.

Ahead of them the starfield was a welcoming sight after weeks in slipspace. The stars were foreign to him, a different galaxy, indeed a completely different cluster. This would take some getting used to. But even more than the stars, what filled the screen before them was something that none of the crew had ever seen before. A large crystalline planet hung like a glistening honeycomb, and around it swarmed countless little shapes, like bees at work. But they weren't bees. It was the Armada they had been sent to rendezvous with. He checked his instruments, then did a double-take. He'd known before setting out that they would be rendezvousing with an armada assembled from all the allies of the empire, but he hadn't quite grasped just how big it would be. There were literally millions of ships out there, everything from tin cans up to the massive bulks of other Leviathan class warships, and fighters innumerable. He shook his head, suddenly feeling rather lost among so many...

The young officer at communications turned to him. "Admiral, communication from Planetary Coordination. We've been given a section on the lateral plane to park our fleet until the next stage of our operation."

Darren nodded. "Patch the coordinates in to helm. And relay them to the rest of the fleet. Keep navigation slaved through our computer until we're in position."

Around him the bridge bustled with activity again as his officers moved to each their tasks. He allowed himself a thin smile. The first hard part of the op was done. But what was ahead, that was another matter entirely. Soon enough they'd be tested for what they came for. Battle...