He’d seen the specs on the Heroic Class already, of course, but it was different seeing them in person as it were.

They were almost a kilometer and a half long, which wasn’t insanely large, he supposed. The Enterprise was over a kilometer from stem to stern, after all, but the Heroics were built with significantly more useable space.

He knew from the specs he’d perused that most of that space was dedicated to the power source used, and just what Priminae power sources were had been one hell of an eye-opener. The Priminae didn’t register fuel in anything as mundane as gallons or tons. They registered it in planetary masses.

Each Heroic used dual singularity power cores, each capable of holding five Earth-scale masses in a stable matrix. The system bled the mass off and used the resulting energy release to power the ship, weapons, and whatever else was needed. That was one reason why Priminae power systems never meshed well with the electrically powered Terran technology. The conversion requirements were massive and inefficient.

With that kind of power on tap, each starship in the Heroic Class qualified as a Type One Kardeshev civilization on its own merits alone. The numbers were just staggering, and it went a long way to explain why Priminae records from early scans of the Odyssey showed the ship as a total nonentity. Purely Terran-built ships literally didn’t register when compared to a Priminae or Drasin power curve. It was like comparing a raindrop to the Pacific Ocean.

The lead ship in the squadron, the name Odysseus clearly painted in white letters against its dark steel-blue hull, slowed to a full stop relative to the planet. Carrow was not surprised when he was told that there was an incoming transmission.

“Put it through,” he ordered.

The image of Admiral Gracen sitting against open space appeared on their main display.

“Captain, good to see you again so soon.”

“And you, Admiral,” he returned. “I see you’ve picked up your new toys.”

Gracen permitted herself a slight smile. “I believe that we will be having some fun with these in the near future, Captain. How are your people?”

“We’re cycling through leave periods, but I can cut them short and be ready to leave inside of twelve hours.”

“No need, Captain. We’ll be spending a few days in Ranquil orbit before we move on to our next destination,” she told him. “There is work to be done here.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Gracen out,” she said before the image flickered away.

Carrow shook his head slowly. Finally. We’re getting some movement.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER THIRTEEN