Peacekeeper

by Doug Farren

  “Why do you think their shipyard is nearby?” Sorbith asked.

  “Two reasons,” Tom explained. “The first involves the communication beam from Earth. The protocol specified is the older, slower one in use before the Hess shared their more advanced technology with us. That means the AOH has not yet acquired the ability to construct the advanced FTL communications equipment, meaning they’re stuck with much higher delay times. It didn’t take more than a few days following the destruction of the Barstock before the other cargo ships started disappearing. There was also a less than two-week delay between the discovery of the debris field and when I encountered the AOH ship on my way to Centralis. That puts a maximum on how far away their base can be from Earth.”

  “You ran into an AOH ship?” Doug exclaimed. “And what’s this beam from Earth you’re talking about?”

  “I’m afraid that’s all classified information,” Sorbith said. “Tom’s reasoning is sound but I’m not entirely convinced. What’s your second reason?”

  “The AOH chose this planet to rendezvous with their returning cargo ships. Because the crew was delayed, the Naruma was probably one of the last. I would imagine the AOH would want to keep most of their ships close to the main base. Sending them across the galaxy to scan a returning cargo ship and then having to come all the way back just doesn’t make any sense. Their base must be within a few dozen light years of this location. I suggest we find it.”

  “Just tell me how you want to proceed,” Doug said, keeping the anger that had returned out of his voice. “The last of the defense stations was eliminated a few seconds ago. The base on the asteroid is all that remains.”

  The channel was silent for several seconds. Doug was about to repeat his question when Sorbith finally said, “Destroy it. I was originally thinking we would try to gain access to the facility but it’s probably rigged with a self-destruct. I will instruct all other ships to abandon their search and recover their drones. We’ll leave a few behind to monitor the system in case any AOH ships appear. New orders will be issued shortly. Sorbith out.”

  Chapter 33

  Doug sat up straighter in the command chair and rubbed his hands together. “Helm, bring us closer to the asteroid. Lock weapons and charge the sledgehammers. Tactical, target analysis.”

  The Dragon’s fusion reactors fed power into the weapon accumulators preparing them to release death and destruction. Four bright balls of tightly wound electromagnetic energy formed inside the sledgehammers. Crackling electrical discharges created a spectacular St. Elmo’s fire around each weapon giving the Dragon the appearance that it was wearing a 4-studded diamond ring.

  “Fifteen individually shielded weapon stations are mounted on the asteroid’s surface,” the executive officer reported from CIC. Nine are capable of targeting us at this time. We are also detecting a large power source deep inside the asteroid as well as an unusual structure that appears to run from the surface to the interior.”

  “Define unusual,” Doug said.

  “It’s a tube with an inside diameter of just over a meter that’s surrounded by what appear to be electromagnetic acceleration rings. Our sensors are unable to penetrate more than a few meters below the surface so I can’t tell you what the tube’s for.”

  “A giant coil gun?” Doug replied, his eyebrows knitting together. “What the hell would they use something like that for?”

  “Unknown Captain.”

  The Komodo Dragon slid through space, slowly approaching the asteroid. At a distance of 15,000 kilometers, the asteroid’s surface installations opened fire. Nine lasers reached out and tapped loudly on the Dragon’s shield. Enormous bolts of deflected energy shed themselves off the reflective surface.

  “Shield loading at 71%,” the tactical station announced. “Standard lasers.”

  “Return fire,” Doug ordered. While the weapons station turned to comply, he continued, “If this had been something really important they would have used larger weapons or more of them.”

  “Or at least anti-matter enhanced particle beams,” the weapons station added.

  “I doubt they have access to that level of technology,” Doug said.

  Twin rods of visible death appeared, drawing two ghostly bluish lines between the Dragon and the asteroid. Normally, no matter how powerful an energy beam is, it is invisible in space. The Hess weapons installed aboard the Dragon however were far from normal. The beams consisted of tiny alternating packets of compressed protons and anti-protons jacketed in a short-lived FTL field. It was the interaction of this field with normal space that created the eerie bluish glow that marked the beam’s path. No other ship in the Alliance possessed such firepower.

  The shield of the targeted surface installation utterly failed to stop the titanic amount of energy being poured into it. Only slightly weakened by their passage through the shield, the beams hit the laser cannon. Despite its heavy construction, the cannon quickly melted and ceased to operate. The beams continued to chew their way through several meters of rock until they encountered the shield generator. As soon as the shield vanished, the Dragon's tactical computer moved on to the next target.

  While the primary guns were engaged, the four secondary guns targeted two more shields. Although far weaker than the main batteries, they still packed enough power to task the shields. Huge bolts of deflected plasma discharged themselves into the surrounding landscape boiling away dust and rock wherever they hit. Following in their wake were the sledgehammers. Bright, actinic balls of barely contained electromagnetic energy had been building up deep inside the throat of this unique weapon. The magnetic vortex was charged with counter-rotating streams of protons and anti-protons. As soon as they reached full power, the vortex was electromagnetically launched.

  Traveling at a significant fraction of the speed of light, the four sledgehammers raced through space and crashed into the two shields being loaded by the Dragon’s secondary weapons. The collision caused the vortex’s containment field to collapse, allowing the matter and antimatter to combine. Overloaded, the shields failed and two more lasers, along with their shield generators, died. Ten minutes later, the asteroid was stripped of almost all of its weapons.

  A single missile was fired. It sped unopposed toward the asteroid. There was a bright flash as the 30-megaton warhead detonated carving a huge crater into the asteroid’s surface. It was followed by a second and then a third missile, each one digging deeper into the asteroid ensuring that whatever equipment was buried inside would be completely destroyed.

  * * * * *

  No matter how hard he tried, Sorbith was unable to find any flaws in Tom’s logic; the Purist base must be in another star system. But before sending his small fleet of ships off in search of the illusive base, Sorbith decided to hold another meeting aboard the Dragon. The only ones invited were the three Peacekeepers and Captain Scarboro.

  After everyone was seated he said, “The purpose of this meeting is to ensure we are using our available resources in the safest and most economical means possible. We are proceeding under the assumption that the AOH has a shipyard capable of constructing advanced warships. What they intend on doing with them is still an open question.”

  Sorbith tapped a key and the lights dimmed. A detailed three-dimensional star map appeared over the table. “I have briefed Captain Scarboro on most of what we have learned concerning AOH activities. He is aware of the communications breach at Mojave as well as the movement of Alliance weapons. Based on what we have found so far, we know the AOH principle operations center must be located in an unexplored system somewhere in this area of the galaxy. This is based on the direction of the communications beam from Earth.”

  The map shrunk slightly to accommodate Earth’s position in a far corner. A faint yellow cone appeared with the apex located on Earth. “This is the beam pattern of the communications link from Earth to the AOH. Note that HR 8323 is in the center and at the location we would expect to find the intended receiver. The base, however, is not
here. There are two possibilities. Either the AOH base is located somewhere within this communications beam or the recently destroyed facility was a relay station. Knowing the technology available 50 years ago we can extend the possible volume of space in which we can expect to find the base.”

  A light blue sphere appeared over the top of the cone. “There are 2,152 stars located within the indicated volume of space. If we eliminate all the systems in which an Alliance race currently has a presence as well as pulsars and violently variable stars we are left with 713 possible locations. We have 36 ships. Suggestions?”

  “None of these have been explored?” Chyr asked.

  “No. As you can see, this entire region is located on the other side of Terran space which puts it a significant distance from any other race’s territory.”

  “My suggestion,” Doug spoke up, “would be to begin with all the stars within the primary communications cone originating on Earth. Work your way outward from HR 8323. After that, start expanding into the blue area.”

  “Can we get more ships?” Tom asked.

  “I’m sure we can,” Sorbith replied. “I’m not sure it’s a justifiable use of our resources however.”

  “Why not?” Doug said. “It would not only allow us to explore a significant amount of unexplored space, but the additional ships would allow us to find the AOH base before they can use those warships they’ve been building.”

  “The exploration would mostly benefit Terrans,” Sorbith pointed out.

  “I’m not sure I like what that implies,” Doug argued. “It’s far beyond our space and we are members of the Alliance. I don’t see the problem.”

  “I did not mean to imply that Terrans would take advantage of the data,” Sorbith said. “The area we are talking about is closer to Terran space than anywhere else. I was merely suggesting—”

  “We are getting off target,” Chyr interrupted. “We have a problem that must be solved. I suggest we keep ourselves focused on the AOH.”

  “You are correct,” Sorbith replied, sounding slightly upset. Those working with Sorbith had quickly learned that he did not appreciate being interrupted. Bowing his head in Chyr’s direction, he said, “Computer, remove the extended search area." The bluish haze vanished from the map. “There are only 67 stars located in this search area. It is well within our ability to search these stars while we await the arrival of additional ships. Computer, calculate the most efficient way for 36 ships to search the possible stars within the primary communications cone.”

  The job was done in a matter of seconds and after receiving Sorbith’s approval, the orders were transmitted. As the meeting adjourned, Tom checked his internal chronometer—the time was 1622. Through his biolink, he quickly learned that all of his close friends with the exception of Bill Owens were currently off duty.

  “Captain,” Tom said, coming up from behind in the passageway. After ensuring he had Doug’s attention, he continued, “I’d like to say goodbye to my friends. I have a feeling I won’t be seeing them again.”

  “You don’t need my permission to do that,” Doug replied.

  “Bill is on watch. Someone would have to relieve him.”

  “I’ll make the arrangements. Where do you want to meet?”

  “Our customary table on the mess decks. You’re part of our group too you know.”

  “I’ll be there. See you in 15 minutes.”

  “Thank you Captain.”

  Tom informed Sorbith via biolink that his departure would be delayed. “Take as much time as you deem necessary,” Sorbith replied.

  Pradymna and Gerry were already seated at the table when Tom walked in. He greeted them cheerfully as he joined them. Jiro appeared with a large tray of cheese and meat cubes. The cook turned to leave but stopped when Tom said, “Jiro, join us.”

  Jiro hesitated then took a seat. A moment later, Bill, Mark, and Doug entered the room together. “I was just settling in for a nice comfortable nap,” Bill said as he sat down.

  “I thought you were on watch,” Tom said.

  “I was.”

  Doug turned and gave Bill a stern look. “Hmm, maybe I should have you moved to first watch where I can keep a closer eye on you.”

  “Don’t do it,” Gerry said, “Sleeping beauty here would never be able to get up in time. You’d be writing him up once a week for being late.”

  “I was late because I was up all night fixing the equipment you kept breaking,” Bill replied.

  “Well if iron-hide here,” Gerry replied, pointing her thumb in Tom’s direction, “hadn't tweaked his equipment I would have known better.”

  Tom had arrived feeling a little depressed but now he was laughing. “You did make a mess of that transceiver,” he said. “If I remember, it took both Bill and myself most of the night to get it working again.”

  “You should have told me you modified the high-gain antenna preamplifier. When the routine check claimed the transceiver was out of calibration I followed standard protocol and recalibrated it.”

  “Tried to, anyway,” Bill laughed.

  “Oops!" Tom replied, throwing his hands in the air. "Guess I should have told you, sorry,”

  “So that’s what you did with those parts you asked for,” Pradyumna said. “I told the guys in supply you were working on improving that toy you made for the gal you met on Oceanus.”

  “Hey! She asked me to build it,” Tom said.

  “You never built one for me,” Gerry chimed in pretending as if she was pouting.

  “You never asked,” Tom replied, lowering his voice slightly.

  The back and forth bantering and good-natured humor continued for an hour. Jiro, who had witnessed this group’s odd form of humor from a distance, sat back and enjoyed his front row seat. He even managed a few come-backs when the conversation turned to some of his cooking. By mutual consent, nobody broached Tom’s eminent departure. There came a point, however, when the conversation slowed and people began running out of words.

  “I suppose you’ve got to get going,” Bill said, during an awkward moment of silence.

  Tom looked around the table and took a deep breath. “I’m really going to miss you guys,” he said, his voice a little shaky.

  Gerry leaned forward and peered into Tom’s eyes. “Hey look!” she said. She wiped a tear from her eye and sniffed her nose before continuing. “He can cry.”

  Tom stood up and the others followed. Everyone, including Jiro, took turns giving him a big hug.

  Doug’s wrist-com beeped for attention. “Scarboro,” he said after tapping the reply key.

  “The Orion is requesting permission to dock,” a tiny voice issued from the speaker.

  “Granted. Peacekeeper Wilks is on his way.”

  The entire group traveled together arriving at the docking hatch a few minutes later. Tom cycled the airlock open, and turned to face his friends. “We should all make it a point to try to stay in touch,” he said. “Someday, I’d like for us to get together again.”

  “I agree,” Doug said. Extending his hand, he added, “Good luck.”

  After shaking hands with his friends, and receiving an unexpected kiss from Gerry, Tom headed into the airlock. As he did so, he heard two quick dings, a pause, then two more from the ship’s speakers followed by the words, “Peacekeeper Tom Wilks, departing.”

  As soon as he was aboard the Orion, Tom said, “Set course for GV 13188.”

  Chapter 34

  “Tom?” the voice in his head seemed to come from a long ways away. “Tom?” the voice repeated with increased volume.

  Tom woke and shook his head to help wake himself. “What’s up?” he asked.

  “I have detected another ship,” the Orion said. “It’s traveling on a roughly parallel course. I have adjusted our course to maintain minimal contact.”

  Tom had been sleeping in his command chair. As a cyborg, he never had to worry about his legs or arms becoming cramped. He also had no need to get up and stretch. The tactical screen sho
wed him everything he needed to know.

  He was still 1.3 light years from GV 13188. The unknown vessel had slid into his sensor range and was approaching the system at a slightly faster speed. To prevent itself from being detected, the ship’s AI had slightly altered their course and speed so they were now following the other ship on a parallel course. Because of the distance, the Orion had been unable to analyze the ship’s drive wake in sufficient detail to determine who might have built it.

  “Looks like they didn’t spot us,” Tom remarked.

  “Assuming their sensors have the same sensitivity as ours,” the ship replied, “they should not have been able to detect us. They mass considerably more than we do.”

  The Orion was referring to the fact that larger ships, due to their larger and more powerful stardrive fields, had a smaller maximum range of detection than a less massive vessel.

  “Establish communications silence,” Tom ordered. Next, he pulled up his inventory of probes, selected three, and then programmed them for tactical reconnaissance entering the coordinates for GV 13188.

  The Orion continued to shadow the ship for another 40 minutes. Tom waited until they were at a distance of one light year from the star system before taking manual control. He slowed their forward velocity allowing the other ship to slide beyond his sensor range. He then dropped to normal space and launched the probes. Traveling at 231 times the speed of light, they would require almost 38 hours to reach their target.

  “Orion, send a SITREP to Sorbith. Let me know when he replies. Tell him we’re going silent until we get some useful data from the probes.”

  “Acknowledged…message sent. Be advised that the round-trip communications delay with Peacekeeper Sorbith is approximately 5.5 hours.”

  Tom’s hands wandered over the control panel in a well-practiced pattern. He shut down all but one of his fusion reactors and put the ship into a low power alignment. He then activated the cloak making him nearly undetectable. The only thing he could do now was watch the telemetry data from the probes and hope for the best.