Read Legions of Orion (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 1) for Free Online

hardly
surprised, this was one of the biggest ever stories for the
media.
    Anderson knew
immediately that they had spotted ANS Beagle. She had been hidden
from view as she was positioned out of sight behind the structure
of the station and guarded by three of the destroyers. She was
substantially larger than any other ship present and of a bizarre
design that included dozens of gantries and modules that seemed
hastily attached to her fragile boom shaped hull.
    “ ANS Beagle,”
a nnounced Admiral Anderson.
    “ As you all know,
there is no point in us launching a mission over a thousand light
years away if we have no ability to return and send data back. ANS
Beagle is the first completely self-contained, mobile rift
generator, and as such, she is the most advanced vessel ever
constructed.”
    He paused for a moment, letting that
sink in.
    “ In fact, there are
many that suggest the Beagle is the greatest engineering feat in
our entire history. At more than a kilometre long, she can build,
manage and power the reverse end of the Spacebridge for up to three
months. Assuming the bridge is viable, we will be able to send
engineers through to create a more permanent station that can
manage a long distance bridge indefinitely.”
    Everybody in the
room watched the massive ship as she used her manoeuvring thrusters
to position herself to face the entrance of the bridge. The
entrance itself was substantial, but at the approach of the ship,
seemed barely adequate. The outer sections of the entrance fired
their own thrusters and moved apart at an incredibly slow speed. It
took almost a minute before the hole had enlarged enough for ANS
Beagle to safely fit.
    “ Sir, systems
stable, bridge is secure and power systems are holding. We can keep
it open for seven minutes, maybe eight with our reserves,”
confirmed the Chief Engineer.
    “Good, send the signal.”
    It was the biggest
problem with not having a rift generator at the other end to lock
down the Spacebridge. Whereas the bridge could operate for minutes,
it would need an entire station to power it. Once hardware was
installed at both ends, it could be operated for months and with
far less power while a permanent monitoring station was built at
the other end. The longer the tunnel, the greater were the energy
requirements, and the distance factor to the Orion Nebula was vast
compared to the paltry distances so far used in the
Alliance.
    The mighty ship
activated its main drive engines and pushed to the Rift at a crawl.
In fact, it was almost impossible to identify the movement of the
ship as she started her maiden voyage.
    “ Admiral Anderson,
ANS Beagle is starting her run,” said Commodore Lewis before
cutting his video link. Anderson watched the small flotilla of
warships change their position so that each ship was stationed with
its thickest armour and maximum amount of weapons facing the Rift.
None of the civilians noticed, as they were all too busy watching
the bulk of ANS Beagle move ever closer to the Rift. It moved
passed the station at a crawl, but with the slow speed came the
added drama and excitement of such a behemoth moving to the gate.
He noted ANS Dragon swivel on the spot and point her bow railguns
directly at the Rift itself. As the previous XO of a Navy
battlecruiser, Admiral Anderson was very familiar with the
weaponry, and even he knew that these new weapons were
substantially larger and more powerful than the weapons he had
access to during the War.
    If
anything comes through the bridge , they’ll handle it.
    The front of the
g reat vessel slipped inside the Rift and
flickered and pulsed before vanishing from view. It took just
seconds for the rest of the vessel to enter in its entirety and
then it was gone. Admiral Anderson looked about the room and
watched the look of confusion on the faces of the small group of
press. This was in stark contrast to the large number of
technicians and engineers who were busy maintaining the energy
levels of the