by S. H. Jucha
The UE men exchanged astonished looks. There was no sensation of acceleration to indicate the Haraken vessel was accelerating that quickly.
Z signaled Julien that the demonstration was beginning.
* * *
Admiral Portland observed the small group of ships come close to his fleet, stop, and then retreat, leaving a UE patrol ship in their wake. Then a single fighter eased away from what appeared to a passenger liner and lined up on the patrol ship.
“Captain Shelley, I want eyes on that patrol boat and that fighter,” Portland ordered. The monitoring screens of the battleship’s bridge filled with images of the fighter and patrol ship in closeup, and a third screen contained an image of both craft, appearing as small dots.
“A twin missile launch from the fighter, Captain,” a commander called out.
Portland eased away from the bulkhead where he was standing to peer closely at the third monitor. Two bright spots erupted from the dark, where the fighter was positioned and traced bright lines toward the UE ship.
“The missiles exploded,” the commander announced. “Negligible energy recorded.”
“That’s it?” Portland asked, laughing.
“The president indicated we should watch carefully,” Captain Shelley said.
“Continue observing, Captain. Call me if anything interesting develops. Otherwise, hold position.”
A couple of hours later, long after the Haraken ships retreated toward the station, a first lieutenant called out, “Captain, there’s something wrong with the patrol ship.”
“Explain,” Shelley commanded, coming awake from a snooze in his command chair.
“Here, here, and here,” the first mate said, leaving his position to indicate various points on the ship on the screen, showing the vessel closeup.
Shelley left his command chair to peer at the monitor’s image. “What are those?” he asked.
“I think they’re holes, Captain. At first, I thought it was a glitch with our sensors, but everything checks out. Then I noticed that these dark spots were growing faster and faster like … like something’s feeding on that ship.”
“Comms, get Admiral Portland up here, now,” Shelley ordered.
In the time it took Portland to gain the bridge, the holes in the UE patrol ship doubled in diameter, and where tens of holes were visible when the first mate noticed them, hundreds could now be seen, and more were appearing with the passing of minutes.
Shelley pointed to the screen when Portland came up beside him, saying, “Those two puny missiles that you laughed at seeded the space around that patrol vessel. Something in those missiles is eating that ship.” While they watched, small pieces of the ship began floating away, and starlight began showing through the remaining hulk of the hull.
Z’s missile warheads had sprayed hundreds of thousands of tiny globules of nanites surrounded by oxygen-impregnated thermite gel. When the globules struck the hull, the thermite compound was activated, aided by the embedded oxygen-transport compound. Once energized, the nanites began replicating by consuming the metal of the ship, creating an exothermic reaction, which supplied the nanites with additional energy. The process would continue as long as the nanites found native metal. To protect any other ship traffic, Julien and Z programmed the nanites with a short lifespan.
“Commander, get me Captain Tankerling on the Dauntless,” Portland ordered the fleet comms officer.
“Captain Tankerling, Admiral.”
“Captain, take your destroyer close to that UE patrol ship and ascertain what we’re looking at. I need to know whether this is some sort of visual hoax or a weapon. Keep your ship at a distance of 10 kilometers from the vessel. That should be a safe distance.” Portland ignored the glances aimed his way.
“Understood, Admiral, we’re underway.”
The Dauntless had closed to within 100K kilometers when the Guardian’s central screen lit up with an image of Alex. “I’m curious, Admiral. How many people are aboard that destroyer you’re sending to investigate our demonstration?”
Portland briefly glared at the battleship’s comms officer, angry that the Harakens were able to link full comms, audio and visual, at will. The harassed comms officer could only shrug an apology and work to regain control of his comms panel.
“I have plenty of destroyers,” Portland replied arrogantly. “And I don’t accept demonstrations at face value from anyone, especially not aberrant humans.”
Alex didn’t bother to reply and cut the comm.
Portland never left the bridge while the Dauntless reached the UE patrol ship or what was left of it. It was little more than pieces of non-metal material left floating in an ungainly clump.
“Admiral, call from the Dauntless,” the comms commander announced. When Portland nodded, the connection was transferred to his bridge display.
“Go ahead, Captain.”
“As best we can tell, Admiral, there was some sort of process at work on this vessel’s metal, but we can’t confirm whether the active material came from those missiles or was implanted on board the patrol ship before it was left here. It’s our best techs’ thoughts that it was the latter condition. It would have been easy for the Harakens to have sprayed the outside and inside with a compound that began breaking down the ship’s metal components. The fact that we seem to be fine is probably a good argument for the techs’ opinions.”
“Understood, Captain. Good job. Return to formation.” Portland chuckled to himself and then said to no one in particular, “And you thought you had me fooled, Haraken, with your weak magic show.”
Portland assumed his command chair to develop scenarios for his assault on Idona, using the latest telemetry information on the Harakens when the commander signaled him of an urgent call from the Dauntless. On the monitor, a harried Captain Tankerling was issuing orders, while the sound of horns wailed the signal to abandon the destroyer.
“Report, Captain,” Portland ordered.
“We were wrong, Admiral. The space around the patrol ship was seeded with the Harakens’ weapon. We have tens of compartment breaches to vacuum and more happening every minute. I’m reversing course so that we don’t contaminate the fleet. I intend to halt 100K kilometers spinward of the patrol ship’s debris. My crew is filling the survival pods now. It’s my hope that these aren’t contaminated too. I have no idea when it will be safe to retrieve us, Admiral. I hate to suggest this, but maybe the Harakens can help.”
Aboard the Guardian, they heard a voice on the destroyer bridge yell, “Captain, the bridge is about to be breached. We have to go now.” Seconds after the destroyer’s bridge was seen to empty, the comms signal was lost.
Over the next few hours, Portland, Shelley, and the bridge crew of the Guardian witnessed the destroyer and its survival pods fall apart. Cries for help from the crew could be heard by the comms officers across the fleet. After the pods broke apart, the nanites destroyed the metal rings on the crew’s environment suits. Less than an hour later, when it was too late for any crew member, the nanites became inactive.
“Shall we continue to make for the station, Admiral?” Captain Shelley asked as neutrally as he could.
Portland swore under his breath. He had been anxious to teach the Harakens a lesson in UE military power. Now, his strategy needed rethinking. “Commander, what civilian ships are behind us?”
The commander consulted his screens. “We have three freighters and two liners on approach for Idona. They are spread about three and a half days apart.”
“Which ship is in the front?”
“A freighter, the Shamrock.”
“Signal our ships to reverse course. They’re to reassemble in fleet formation behind the Shamrock. Order its captain to slow to one-quarter present velocity. Then contact the other four civvie captains, and order them to form up on the Shamrock. They will be our shield.” Portland stared at the monitor for a minute, watching the scattered debris of the destroyer and the bodies of the crew floating in the dark and shudde
red, wondering what kind of humans fought with weapons like these.
-17-
“Well, I didn’t see that coming,” Tatia commented to the group, who were on the conference comm and observing the demonstration via the holo-vids at the station and across the fleet. The struggles of the crew from the destroyer’s failed pods ended with the breach of their disintegrating environment suits.
“You dissolved … everything … even the crew!” said Shimada, staring horrified at the holo-vid. “I thought the nanites would attack the hull or the engines or something specific.”
“Technically, Captain —” was as far as Z got, before Cordelia’s signal interrupted him.
“You were quite explicit about the safety distance, Mr. President,” Julien commented, hoping to ease the heartache he knew his friend was suffering. He shared a glance with Renée, who stood behind Alex and kept her slender hands on the president’s shoulders.
“The man just had to be sure it wasn’t a trick, and he used an entire destroyer to discover the truth,” Alex said sadly and switched the holo-vid’s view to that of Portland’s fleet. “The admiral is on the move. Captain, do you care to revise your estimate of what Portland will do?” When Shimada failed to answer, Alex shifted to a command tone, “Captain Shimada, will Portland change the strategy you suggested earlier?”
Shimada jerked as if she was shocked. “What? Um … I don’t know. Wait.” She took a deep breath and straightened her spine, her eyes focusing far away. Slowly the pain ebbed, and Shimada returned her attention to the room to regard Alex with an odd mix of emotion. A thought crossed her mind to tell the president what she thought of his demonstration, but her eyes wandered to Renée’s face, and the thought fled. A woman she had considered a lovely companion to the president wore an expression that said, “Express that thought at your peril.”
“You’ll have frightened the admiral and most likely everyone in the fleet who had a view of the demise of the Dauntless and its crew.”
“And by now the story has been circulated to every crew member and has grown exponentially,” Tatia added.
“Undoubtedly,” Shimada agreed. “Harakens will be viewed as monsters … waging warfare with inhuman weapons.”
“Hmm … maybe we can use that,” Alex said. “What about Portland’s strategy, Captain?”
Shimada looked at the holo-vid. “I can’t tell what direction the fleet is moving. How do you know?” She glanced at Alex, who tapped his temple. “Um … so care to enlighten this unenhanced individual?” asked Shimada, her tone revealing the pain and anger she was holding back.
“The fleet is moving to intersect a freighter, the Shamrock, Captain,” Julien supplied. “There are four other ships on course for Idona behind the freighter. Undoubtedly, they will provide a substantial number of civilians for your good admiral to sacrifice, much as he did his destroyer and its crew.”
Anger flared inside Shimada, and she pushed it into her eyes as she bored into those of Julien, who patiently regarded her in return. After a moment, her action seemed futile, and she glanced back to the holo-vid, a feeling of exhaustion overcoming her as if her rage was burning the energy out of her. A long sigh escaped her lips, and she gathered her thoughts to respond to Alex’s question.
“As I said, Mr. President, you’ll have scared the admiral, but he will depend on what’s always worked for him. His main force will shield itself behind the civilian craft as Julien supposed. Since he favors a pincer movement, he’ll probably expand that maneuver now by adding a third and fourth attack force. Two will come at your flanks on the ecliptic; two others will go over and under the ecliptic. It will divide your forces into five defensive groups.”
“And the largest contingent of the fleet will be hiding behind civilians,” Tatia added.
“Captain, Commander Ellie Thompson here. Do you have any idea how he will divide his forces?”
“The admiral favors using his destroyers anchored by a cruiser in the pincer movements. If he uses four attack groups, each escorting a cruiser, it would strip the main force of cruisers, which I don’t think he’ll want to do.”
“Why not?” Ellie asked.
“He’ll want to ensure that no matter what happens to the pincer forces, his battleship will be well guarded.”
“A wonderful leadership style,” Tatia commented.
“Criticism is easy, Admiral,” Shimada said. “I’m sure your president has evaded the risks of battle as well.” Shimada was floored by the huge swell of laughter that echoed around the room, including that issuing from the holo-vid’s speakers. Even the twins and SADEs were smiling at her.
“People, leave the captain alone. Her day has been trying enough with the loss of her compatriots,” Alex said and the laughter died instantly.
Shimada could feel the heat in her face and neck from the flush of embarrassment. It was the compassionate expression on the president’s face that mollified her.
“So you’ve led from the front,” Shimada guessed.
“Too far in front and too many times,” Tatia acknowledged.
Shimada watched the heads in the room nodding their agreement and heard murmurs of assent from the holo-vid. She realized her failure in trying to find comparisons between her people and the Harakens. It wasn’t that they weren’t human; it was that they were a fundamentally different society — a society that bore little resemblance to that of the UE.
“Well, if the admiral does come at us in five groups with one hiding behind civilians, we are going to be challenged.”
Shimada didn’t know whose voice issued from the holo-vid, but she didn’t understand the underlying problem. “What’s the problem? You fire your missiles into the face of the four pincer groups and dissolve those ships away. Then you deal with the main force another way. Destroy the pincer forces, and you’ll have cut his fleet’s firepower by three-fourths or fifths.”
“Z used a third of his nanites stock in the demonstration,” Tatia replied. “It would take him much more time than we have to produce enough nanites to obliterate the four sub-fleets. But it wouldn’t matter. We only have four Daggers, which would mean one fighter would have had to cover the spread of a UE squadron. Not going to be viable.”
“You … you tried to bluff the admiral?” Shimada asked, staring at Alex.
“It seemed a good play,” Alex replied.
“But I told you the admiral would not be impressed. Why waste showing your secret weapon when you have so little of it?”
“Captain,” Julien responded instead. “Perhaps it has escaped your notice that we came here to prevent a war not start one. It was a calculated gambit that our president wished to try. He is usually quite successful with his inventive strategies. Just not today,” Julien added, shrugging an apology to Alex.
“So what will you do now?” Shimada asked.
“That, Captain, is yet to be determined. Anybody hungry besides me?” Alex asked and headed for the room’s exit.
What amazed Shimada were the good-natured smiles on the faces of the Harakens as they followed their president out of the room. They’ve just learned their leader pulled their pants down in front of the enemy and admitted he doesn’t have a backup plan, and they’re all smiling and going to dinner, Shimada thought in amazement.
“Come, Captain,” Franz said taking Shimada’s hand into the crook of his arm and guiding her toward the exit. “The universe will look a little better after some good food and hot thé.”
Shimada’s thoughts were in such a daze that she allowed Franz to lead her, never pulling her hand from his grasp. His powerful hand gently holding hers was a comforting touch in contrast to the enormously uncomfortable events she witnessed today.
* * *
Three days later, Shimada’s prophecy proved true. Admiral Portland divided his forces and four pincers flared from behind the shield of civilian ships. A cruiser anchored each of the destroyer groups flanking on the
ecliptic. It was squadrons of destroyers only that shot above and below the ecliptic to form the third and fourth attacking forces. The main group, tightly tucked behind a spread of civilian freighters and passenger liners, was composed of the admiral’s battleship, two cruisers, and three destroyers.
The Haraken fleet officers were back aboard their carriers as were Cordelia and Julien. Z, Mickey, Ellie, and the only three other Dagger-qualified pilots were aboard the Rêveur. Shimada returned to her destroyer and was told explicitly by Alex to take no action in support of his people, regardless of what happened to them.
Alex, Renée, Julien, the twins, and squadrons of troopers stayed on station, with ten travelers in reserve. It crushed Alex not to be with his people, but he knew if he left the station, the fragile truce they created might collapse. He counted on his people to carry the day.
* * *
Around the station, the air was one of nervousness. Station telemetry reported the maneuvers of the approaching fleet, and news traveled around the station faster than the speed of light. Captains and owners sought to launch their vessels as early as possible, but, on Alex’s orders, all craft were denied exit from the station.
It was the Harakens’ demonstration that curtailed the grumblings of captains and owners. Viewing the UE patrol ship and then the destroyer dissolve in a matter of hours, scared the station’s populace. To most, the images of the destroyer crew’s flailing arms and legs as they fought to repair their environment suits were horribly emblazoned in their memories.