Chapter 8 Part 4

The bridge of the Andromeda was strangely quiet for a ship about to go into battle alone. The intercom was alive with the voices of the various flight commanders as they talked their pilots up for the rapidly approaching fight. Many of those pilots were green rookies that had never been in combat before, and in their hands lay the large carrier's safety.

One relatively small station in the corner of the bridge was receiving an extra ration of attention. It was the station that monitored and maintained the data link between the virtual reality cockpit modules deep within the Andromeda's belly and the two drones which represented the spearhead of the attack.

Carol Garret, the ensign in charge of that station was well aware of the tremendous responsibility entrusted to her. Should the data link fail, the VRADs would be flying blind and unusable. Without the VRADs, their fighters would be overwhelmed and the Syndicate battle craft would obliterate them carrier and all.

To ensure the security of the precious data link, the VRAD signals were being broadcast on nine separate, changing wavelengths simultaneously. The VRADs were only monitoring one of them at any given time. Even then the data was encoded by a complex polynomial which had been randomly selected and loaded onto both VRADs just prior to launch.

It was next to impossible that some technician of the Syndicate Hacker Corps would seize control of the drones. Even so, Colonel Pharr hovered nervously behind the ensign's station keeping a constant vigil for some damning indicator that would signal the doom of the entire VRAD program.

Commodore Becker, on the other hand stood patiently before the large transparent portal. He gazed serenely out at the stars. He refused to look at the instrumentation or monitors during the attack. The peace of deep space helped calm him as he meditated on the silence only an arm's reach away. Long ago the commodore had learned that watching a battle develop could emotionally cloud one's judgment. He would let his subordinate's follow the battle. He himself would calmly make whatever decisions were necessary at the appropriate time.

"They are engaging," Pharr announced from the ensign's side.

"Wildcard," Specter's voice crackled over the comlink, "this is Wraith, break formation and pursue assigned targets at your discretion."