Still, the Heroics measured their energy curves in planetary masses instead of mere terawatts, and the ships’ transition drives and cannons could appear from anywhere, at any time, and lay absolute waste to anything within six light-minutes.

Frankly, Eric was terrified of his own ship in a way he’d never been afraid of an inanimate object before. The compressed nature of the power core meant that they were effectively living and working around a black hole of not insignificant size. Certainly, compared with the ones thought to be at the center of galaxies, the one in the Odysseus was effectively nothing—but it wasn’t some insignificant microsingularity either. Perhaps the core on the Odysseus wasn’t big enough to eat star systems, but it wouldn’t choke on a ship’s crew by any means.

If they lost containment, the core could—and most certainly would—swallow up the Odysseus as well as anything else too close to the gravimetric shear line.

Honestly, he was rather wishing they’d just built an entire reactor around antimatter. Sure it would be at least as dangerous, but if that went up, it would all be over in an instant. The time compression as you closed on the event horizon would make dying by black hole a relative nightmare.

Pun painfully intended.

For all that, however, Eric had to admit that the advantages were clear. The Heroic Class of ships had near infinite power advantages over the Odyssey and her sister ships, and with the military tech taken from some of the best the Confederation and Block had to offer, well, they were truly monsters of the deep black.

If he had his way, then the Drasin, and whoever held their leash, would shortly be looking under their beds for any sign of the Heroics, as would the following generations for as long as they still existed in the universe.

Eric arrived at the docking ring, and he saluted the Marine guards waiting for him before walking through and across the lock seal into the shuttle.

“Captain, we’re almost ready to depart. Just waiting on final clearance from Unity Control.”

Eric nodded absently, grabbing a flimsy from beside his seat as he settled in. “That’s fine, Lieutenant. I have some paperwork to get behind me anyway. Launch when ready.”

“Aye sir.”

He pursed his lips as he looked down at the flimsy, sighing at the list of mail he’d received just while speaking with the admiral.

Maybe it would have been better if they’d retired me. No more paperwork at least.

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AEV (Allied Earth Vessel) Odysseus