by Saxon Andrew
“You’re wrong about that, Jab,” Tap replied with a serious expression. “And you probably will have to kill during the mission if you accept it.”
“Tell me what you want me to do?”
“We want you to land on a hostile planet and scout it.”
“Are you talking about scouting Earth?”
“No, Earth is now an ally of the colonies. It is not a hostile planet.”
“Then where?”
“A recently discovered planet in the Andromeda Galaxy, where a radical group of humans are threatening the Colonies and Earth,” Tap answered.
Jab blinked again and started shaking his head, “Then you should choose someone in the military to carry this out. They have training similar to mine.”
“But not identical to yours and you’ve had to get through some of the most elaborate personal defenses ever developed. The Chancellor of Earth insists that an assassin is needed to pull this off.”
Jab thought about what she said and asked, “Do you think I can do it?”
Tap snorted, “Probably not. However, it’s do this, or I’ll have to remove you from the guild.”
Jab smiled, “So, either way, I’m probably dead.” The Guild Master shrugged and then raised her hands. “Well, at least accepting the mission will delay dying,” Jab responded. “Just how am I going to get to Andromeda to do this?”
An Earth Warship will be arriving in and week and you’ll need to be trained in some advanced talents and then learn how to use some new weapons before it arrives. You’ll receive more training when you arrive in Andromeda.”
“What’s the price of this contract?”
“Earth has promised to pay you forty million credits if you complete the mission.” Jab’s head went back. “Of course, you’ll have to complete the mission and come back alive to collect it.”
Jab saw her expression, “And you don’t think I can do that, do you?”
“I guess stranger things have happened. However, the price is what it is because of the danger involved. I probably wouldn’t accept it, even at that price.”
Jab thought about it and smiled, “You aren’t facing a blaster, Guild Master.” He paused and leaned back, “Well, if I have to die, this sounds like an interesting way to do it. Count me in.”
Tap smiled, “You’ll start your weapons training immediately and you need to clear up any personal issues before you leave in a week.”
Jab’s expression turned dour, “I don’t have any personal issues, Guild Master. You probably already know that. That’s probably part of the reason you selected me?”
“Let’s just call that a bonus, shall we?” Tap said with a smile.
“You’re the only one I’ve been able to find that has the required…temperament.”
Jab wondered what she meant by that, as an assistant entered the office and said, “Please come with me.”
Chapter Twelve
Tal was sitting at his console when he heard Katy say, “Admiral, I have a Mr. Smallwood on our frequency asking to speak with you?”
“Who is he?” Tal asked.
“He says he’s the one who modified the programming in the scanner software,” Katy replied.
“Put him on my console.” The image of a middle-aged man appeared, and he got right to the point, “Admiral, I’m sorry I couldn’t update your crews on the changes we’ve made to your evasive and attack programs before you left, but that needs to be done before you arrive in Andromeda.”
“What sort of changes have been made?” Tal inquired.
“Too many to go over quickly and I suggest you link in the crews of your ships to hear them as I explain them to you.”
“Standby a moment.” Tal pressed the general fleet frequency and announced, “Please stop what you’re doing and prepare to listen to a scientist on changes that have been made to the programing of your ships.”
Katy said under her breath, “It’s about time.”
Tal jerked his attention to her and away from the monitor, “WHY DO YOU SAY THAT, LIEUTENANT?”
“Sir, something has been changed. The evade program keeps changing from evade to attack profiles without reason!”
Tal glanced back at the monitor and saw Smallwood’s smile, “Oh, there’s a reason, Admiral. I’ll clear that up momentarily.” Tal nodded and linked Smallwood into the linked ships. Smallwood began speaking, “I apologize for not getting to you sooner, but a group of scientists have been working on the evade and attack programs in your ship’s programming and we just managed to download them prior to your launch. I’m sure many of you might have noticed that the evade program will suddenly change to an attack program without warning.” Tal saw many of the officers on his consoles monitors nod. “The changes we made are programmed to function automatically depending on the tactical information being received by your ship’s scanners. If the computer detects that an evasive course must be used, the green, white, and yellow tracks will instantly appear on your monitors. We’ve run countless simulations on this and I feel confident saying that if you see them appear, you should heed them. I also want to make it clear that using an active scan instead of relying solely on passive scans will enhance the use of this new system. The more long-range data you have in your systems the better.”
He paused and started speaking again, “If during an evasive route, your computer determines that you can safely attack enemy ships around you, the attack profile will appear. You may then attack those ships or ignore it by engaging the green evade button. If you chose to prevent any attack tracks from appearing, simply press the green button and hold it down until it stays illuminated.”
“Why would you make this change, Doctor?” Tal asked.
“According to our orders, Admiral Montana believes that your fleet might be heavily outnumbered, and he wanted us to devise a way to destroy or damage as many of the Brotherhood’s warships as possible, even while escaping. This system enhancement aids greatly in achieving that goal.”
“And you say that the attack program will not endanger the ships that are fleeing an enemy force?” Tal asked.
“We’ve run enough simulations that we’re extremely confident of that, Admiral. However, if you issue a general evade order from your console, the attack profiles will not be active.”
“What if I want to issue an evade order but allow my ships to attack enemy warships?”
“We added two options to your console in the top center; one is red, and one is green. If you want your fleet to evade, press the green button. If you want them to be free to attack while evading, press the green button followed immediately by the red button.”
“And what happens if we’re not all fighting the same battle?”
“Admiral, the same two buttons are on the three unit’s flagships. The admirals commanding those units can make the same decision for the warships under their command.”
Tal heard Rachael say, “I wondered what those buttons were used for.”
Tal quickly interjected for all to hear, “This mission is to get in and not be seen! Hopefully, we won’t have to use this system!”
Smallwood blurted out what everyone was thinking, “But there is a risk you will be seen, and this new system will help you survive if that happens, Admiral.”
Tal nodded and replied, “We’ve not done any simulations using this new system, which makes me feel reluctant to use it, Doctor.”
“My team managed to download simulations with this new program into your scanning officer’s consoles before you left. You should start going through them prior to your arrival in Andromeda. They’re under the keywords Evade-Attack-Simulation.”
Tal nodded, “Thank you, Doctor. We’ll get on this immediately.”
Smallwood quickly added, “As with the prior system, it is very important that if the attack program suddenly changes to the evade tracks, your crews must immediately forget the attack and follow the evade program; things can change quickly without warning. I think you’ll see that in
the simulations. Contact me if you run into any issues.”
Smallwood disappeared from the monitor and Tal ordered, “Start the simulations immediately! Admiral’s I want a report on how your ships are doing in completing them!”
Tal turned to Indie, “Get this started now!”
Indie turned to Katy, “Pull up the first simulation and get it running!”
“Yes, Sir.”
Tal watched his crew and determined early on that the new simulations were a bear. But they were making progress after a while. He heard Mila say over her subvocal module, “He wasn’t kidding about ignoring the attack track instantly.”
Katy replied, “You can do it, Mila. We can beat this!”
Tal sat back and hoped the new system wouldn’t be needed. But the Brotherhood was now looking for human ships and he knew it might not go as planned.
• • •
All but six-crews completed the new simulations prior to the fleet catching up to the two-support freighters. Tal saw the freighters on the main monitor and activated his communicator, “Captain Sager, are your two vessels prepared to take your positions above and below Andromeda?”
“Yes, Sir. We’ve been waiting on your arrival before we move into position.”
Tal glanced at the giant galaxy on his console’s monitor and connected the other ships in to the conversation. Their channels were muted, so his conversation with the two commanders of the freighters wouldn’t be interrupted, “I want your two vessels to split up and move toward Andromeda for positions high above and far below the galaxy. Do not get anywhere close to the galaxy, where the Brotherhood warships might detect you. I’m assigning Admirals Jee and Jan Stevens to the freighter below Andromeda and Admiral Meadow’s and my unit will use the freighter above the galaxy to provision our ships. My ships that need to be provisioned will contact you prior to arrival and will insure they are not being followed.”
“Yes, Sir,” Captain Sager replied. “The Brazil will be above Andromeda and the Africa will take a position below the galaxy. Do you want to run some trials before we move out, Sir?”
“Captain, we need to get to work scouting Andromeda. Please explain what my ships must do to be resupplied.”
“Yes, Sir.” Tal eyebrows went up as he saw an image of one of the freighters appear on his monitor. Captain Sager began, “The freighters have been radically changed since the war in the LMC. Unlike the Epy Class Warships, the Sha Class is too large to land in the freighter’s landing bay. To resupply, simply land your ships in one of the cradles, there are four of them on the freighter’s hull, and make connection with the anchor points. Once the warship is anchored in place, the transfer of supplies will be done automatically. All materials needed will be determined by the freighter’s computers and everything from missiles to food stores or reactor fuels will be loaded on board. The entire process is automated and should be completed in less than fifteen minutes.”
Tal stared at the freighter and asked, “Can you supply them on the move, Captain?”
“Yes, Sir. Why do you ask?”
“If we happen to get involved in heavy fighting, which I do hope to avoid, then I may order your freighters to move in closer to Andromeda.”
“The freighters are armed and can defend themselves, Admiral. However, if they’re spotted, I suspect the enemy will be sending out vessels to find them.”
“Like I said, Captain, I’ll only do this in an emergency,” Tal replied. “Take your ships and move into position.”
Tal kept his focus on the main monitor and saw the two giants turn and move away from each other, before accelerating toward the still distant galaxy. Indie turned to look at Tal, “Sir, you don’t think we should have trialed landing in one of those cradles?”
Tal looked up from his console, “The ships have a program installed to automatically land the ships in one of those cradles. I’ve looked at it and it’s very easy to use. Enter the cradle number you want and press a button.” Indie nodded and turned back around. Tal studied the galaxy on the front monitor for several minutes and ordered, “Captain Wolfe, may I see you for a moment?” Indie walked over, and Tal tipped his head toward the wall-monitor with the Andromeda Galaxy on it, “I’ve been trying to decide on whether I should divide up my fleet and send half of them below the galaxy and other units above Andromeda. “What’s your opinion on that strategy?”
“Sir, I think you should keep the units as close to each other as possible in the event they need to support each other,” Indie replied.
“I’m prone to agree with you, Captain. However, I don’t want to put both freighters above the galaxy. We could lose both if they were discovered.”
“You could put both above Andromeda and have them located at opposite ends of the galaxy,” Indie suggested. Tal thought about the suggestion and reached toward his communicator, “Captain, Sayer. There’s a change in your orders. Move both freighters above Andromeda but have them located opposite each other at the edges of the galaxy.”
“Yes, Sir. I think that is a better plan, Sir.”
“Captain, in the future, tell me what you’re thinking without my having to ask.”
Sayer smiled on the monitor and quickly said, “Yes, Sir.”
The monitor went dark and Tal turned to Indie, “Once the freighters take up their stations, send their coordinates to our ships.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Tal tried to come up with scenarios about what could possibly go wrong and thought about the Brotherhood destroying a colony warship. If he were in their place, what would he be doing? He thought about it for an hour and then made his decision. He opened the general frequency, “Attention all ships. We will not be approaching the Andromeda Galaxy along the plane of the galaxy. We’ll put some separation between the squadrons and go vertical immediately. The freighters are included in this order and we will continue until we’re a thousand lightyears above the galaxy. At that time, we will turn and move above the galaxy until we arrive above the location where the colony warship self-destructed. Keep your scanners active and report anything unusual to me immediately. Talent out.”
Tal kept his focus on the tactical monitor and watched his squadrons start to spread out putting room between their ships. He knew the only reason he saw them on his monitor was due to a tiny transponder on their hulls that wasn’t covered in the new insulating coating. How the colony scientists had come up with a coating that would adhere to the phase-metal hulls was beyond him. It should have fallen through the metal and out the opposite side of the ships…but it didn’t. It was pitch-black in color and it blocked any heat signature the Shas gave off along with any electrical energy. It absorbed all light without reflecting it and could withstand a powerful blaster hit. What amazed Tal the most was it didn’t interfere with the phase metal’s energy and allowed the Shas to travel at their prodigious faster-than-light speed. Duncan assured him that detecting the new warships was next to impossible.
That would be confirmed once they arrived in Brotherhood space and he really hoped Duncan was right. Coating the freighters was a monstrous undertaking but it had been completed before they launched. He sat back and kept his eyes on the monitor. Was he missing anything? He struggled with any possibilities and wished they had more time to work with their ships before liftoff. How can an invisible ship be seen? He scratched his head and thought about it for the next two hours.
• • •
The fleet arrived a thousand lightyears above the plane of the Andromeda Galaxy, turned, and began moving across the galaxy from high above it. They arrived above an area two-thirds of the way out from the central black hole and came to a stop. After a close look at the monitor, Tal knew that it was time to start the mission. He lifted his helmet, put it on, and pressed the communicate button and announced, “Admiral Jee Stevens, take your squadron to the other side of the black hole, spread out, and start scanning for Brotherhood frequencies. Admirals Jan Stevens and Rachael Meadows will spread out above the coordinates
of where the colony warship was destroyed and start looking for Brotherhood locations. Make sure you keep your squadrons in position to support each other if needed but cover as much space as possible. Take your time and do not allow your ships to be detected. Send me anything you find and keep in mind that this galaxy is far larger than the Milky Way; we could be here for a while. Scanning Officers, passive scans only until ordered otherwise. Talent out.”
Tal connected to Nicole and Jack, “Move out from my location and keep an eye out for any vessels that might represent a danger to the Zak’s Jil.”
“Yes, Sir,” they replied and moved away in opposite directions from the fleet’s flagship. Tal sat back in his chair and activated all the monitors on his console. He had mixed emotions about finding anything quickly. The crews needed time to get a feel for their ships. It was a moot point, when twenty-minutes later, Captain Smythe reported finding a large number of Brotherhood warships moving in open space. Tal sighed, and thought, so it begins.
• • •
Jee’s squadron went to high-speed and moved across the galaxy to the other side of the central black hole. They spread out and moved down into the plane of the galaxy. Two-hours later, Captain Gibbons announced, “Sir, I’m detecting a large energy source close to a star ahead of my location.”
Jee activated Gibbon’s monitor, “Move in carefully and report what you find, Captain.”
“Yes, Sir.” Gibbons flew the Lincoln into the star-system and slowed down as the energy source grew. It was coming from the fourth planet and he slowed far out from the planet’s location, “Frank, talk to me!”
Lt. Fulmer was staring at his scanning monitor closely and started announcing, “Sir, it’s an Earth type planet located in the habitable zone around the central star. It’s heavily populated and appears to have numerous large cities scattered around the planet’s surface.”
“Do you detect any warships?” Gibbs asked.
“We need to move in closer before I can make that determination, Sir.” Gibbs moved the Lincoln in on the planet and Frank kept his eyes focused on his monitor. After twenty-minutes, he announced in a loud voice, “Sir, I’ve detected ten warships in high orbit out from the planet.”