Awakening Threat

by Patrick G Cox

  Harry glanced at the paper and laughed. “Very well, sir. That should be impenetrable to anyone but me, Ferghal or perhaps Danny.”

  “I thought so. That’s why the Admiral and I chose it.” He held out his hand. “Now you know it, give me the paper back. It must be destroyed.” He took it and fed it directly into an atomiser. “Right, your orders for departure are in the tablet. Get your people together and crack the whip. Your ship is being stored up as we sit here, or someone is going to get a right bollocking from me in a very short space of time.” He stood up. “We’re counting on you, Harry—you and your ship. Maximum drive there and back.” He handed over a small carefully wrapped package. “The Admiral says you may need this as well. I believe it comes from the nineteenth century, and will be familiar to you.” He smiled. “Don’t open it until you’re underway. You’ll recognise it, I’m sure.”

  Harry loved the new transit capability. It wasn’t quite instantaneous, but it was so close to it that the human eye and mind couldn’t tell the difference. One moment the ship was in normal space, the next in hyperspace and the same on dropout. Even better, the scanners had no interference, so he had a near instant view of the space around the ship as soon as they dropped out of hyperspace.

  “She responds beautifully. The transit is so smooth I’d not notice were it not for the change in the display in my command centre.”

  “Aye.” Ferghal grinned. “This voyage is a strange one, to be sure. The Commander was a touch mysterious in givin’ me my joining orders.” He grinned. “I’m to see nothing fails and she operates at full power all the way.” He held Harry’s eye. “An’ I can see you’re not about to satisfy my curiosity either.”

  Harry laughed. “No, I cannot.” He extended his hand to touch his friend’s arm. “All I ask is that you ensure our drives do not fail us. I am demanding a great deal, I know, but our voyage is vital to our cause.” He grimaced. “I can say only that we are charged with bringing information to our Admiral that they do not wish to commit to the normal communication channels. No doubt they have their reasons.”

  “Well, at least your quarters will have been completely restored by our return.” Ferghal smiled. “Now, I had best go and make some checks on the drives.

  “Signal, sir. It’s a visual, but it’s addressed to some ship labelled Spartan’s Ancient Mariner. Not in our lists at all.” The ComsRate frowned. “Odd looking—just pictures of flags.”

  “Transfer it to my display please, Arjan.” Harry waited as the holo-image appeared. He saw the flags and grinned, addressing the Navigator. “Reza, could you go to my quarters, please. On the desk you will find a slim and rather battered volume. It has black board covers and the title Admiralty Signal Book on it. I will need it to read this signal.”

  The Lieutenant was on his feet. “Something from the past? Who is this Spartan’s Ancient Mariner?”

  Harry laughed. “I am. And we’ll be lost indeed if I misread this.” He studied the flags in the order they appeared on his screen. The Admiral or someone on his staff had obviously read up on how the flags were used. He began to scribble the order and the letters and numbers the flags represented on his pad.

  “Your book, Captain,” Reza Pahlavi said when he returned. He glanced at Harry’s screen. “Now I’ve seen everything. You can make sense of that?”

  Harry nodded, thumbing through the pages. “Oh yes, though I fear there is room for error.” He found the first group in the Code section and noted its meaning, then searched for the next. Minutes later, he had the message. “Right. Reza, alert Ferghal. We will go to action stations in five minutes and drop out at the coordinates I’ll transfer to helm. The ship we’re to meet should drop out simultaneously. She will challenge with Spartan’s Lost One, and I’ll give you the reply. I want Ferghal to keep the transit engines and controls online and hot, just in case.”

  “Why all the secrecy, sir?”

  “I have no idea what it is we are to collect, only that it is vital.” Harry frowned. “I believe it could not be sent in the usual manner because our communications may be compromised. That is why we are ordered to remain silent unless contacted using a rather private identification code.” He noted the time. “Go to action stations, please.” He focused his thoughts on his cyberlink. “I may need to take evasive action without waiting for the orders, 847. Monitor my thoughts, please, and link me to Ferghal.”

  “Ship closed up to action stations, coxswain on the helm.”

  “Stand by for drop-out.” Harry paused, listening as the ship counted down, then he ordered, “Drop out.”

  Chapter 30

  Evasion

  “Ship on scan, sir. She signals Spartan’s lost one.”

  “Reply ‘Was found by Vanguard,’ if you please.” Harry watched through the ship’s sensors, looking for anything his eyes might miss. “Eight four seven, is there anything unusual here?”

  “No, Harry. Laertes is behaving normally and has no anomalies.”

  “Is there anything else here besides Laertes?”

  “Not in range of my scanners and sensors, Harry.”

  “Good.” He pulled back from the link. To the coxswain he said, “Close with them, please.”

  “What are we expecting, Leader?” Regidur demanded.

  “They will jettison a drone and depart as soon as we are in range. We must capture it and bring it aboard, then we head for the flagship at full power.”

  “Cor, whatever it is must be dynamite to someone, sir.” The ScanRate grinned. “Never seen such cloak an’ dagger stuff before.”

  “We’ll see.” Harry watched the Laertes closely. “He’s launched the drone.” The ship winked out of sight as she vanished into transit. “Close it, please, Swain.”

  “How will we recover it, sir?”

  “With difficulty, I think.” Harry addressed 847 using the audio. “Can you contact the drone?”

  “I have contact, Harry.”

  “Will it respond to our order to return to us?”

  “Yes, it is programmed to do so.”

  “Good. Tell it to enter our launch hangar bay.” He got out of his seat. “Regidur, as soon as the drone is aboard, take us into transit.” He heaved himself out of the command chair and made for the door.

  Making his way aft, he waited at the airlock to the ship’s one and only boat hangar until the indicators told him the atmosphere had stabilised, and then he entered. It took a matter of moments to retrieve the sealed container. He returned to his cabin and secured it in the safe. When he resumed his seat in the Command Centre, 847 was in transit. The instruments showed she was running at full power, though in the grey mist of hyperspace there was no indication of movement at all.

  Harry was curious as to the contents of the container, but he pushed that aside. It was not for him to know the reasons at this stage. No doubt he would learn them in due season.

  “We’ve picked up a tail, sir. He’s hanging back, right on the edge of our scan range.”

  Harry jerked himself awake. He’d hardly left his command chair since they’d collected the message from the Laertes. “Show me.” He opened up his cyberlink and asked the ship, “Does this contact respond to you?”

  “On the display now, sir. I’ve tagged it in red.”

  Harry stood and turned to see the little symbol trailing in their wake. In his ears, he heard the ship reply, “No, Harry, it does not respond to me, but it is a human ship.”

  He weighed the options. If it didn’t respond to 847, it could be a ship the Niburu had captured and converted to their use. Or, it could be a human ship with some damage to its hypercom emitters. Or, it could be a tail sent to guide other enemies into a position to ambush them. He came to a conclusion. “Give me the solutions to these course changes, please.” He watched the information skim through his eyes. “Thank you. Send them to the helm.”

  “Helm, alter course one hundred and twenty degrees to starboard on my mark.” Harry paused. “Now.”

  The ship
turned, perceptible only because the red-tagged tail changed position on the display.

  “Scan, run a full power scan on him as we close. Helm, we’ll turn away on my mark.”

  “The target’s changed course, sir. He’s turned away and is trying to get behind us again.”

  “Thank you. Helm, one hundred and eighty degrees to port. Now!”

  “Target’s trying to match course change, sir.”

  “Comms, any attempt to contact us or anyone else?”

  “Not on any of our frequencies, sir.”

  Harry frowned. This didn’t feel right or good. He checked the ship’s sensor arrays again. Who or what was this pursuer? More important, what was 847 being driven toward? He had the ship recalculate their deviation from their destination on this heading.

  “Helm, alter course again.” He hesitated, letting the ship transfer the new heading to the helm. “Alter course now. Scan, monitor the target.”

  “Aye, aye, sir.” There was a lengthy pause. “Target has altered course as well, sir. He’s matching our current course and speed.”

  “Thank you. It looks like we have someone interested in us.” He tried to make light of the situation. He focussed again on his cyberlink to the ship. “Let me speak directly to Ferghal, please.”

  “Certainly, Harry.”

  “You want me, sir?”

  “Yes, Ferghal.” He collected his thoughts. “We’ve something or someone following in our wake. Have we any reserve of speed?”

  “A little. I can coax about another ten percent out of the pods, but that is pushing the limits.”

  “I may need it. We are still almost four days from the flagship, and I do not like the feel of this at all. He matches all my manoeuvres, and I think he is the guide for some ambush ahead. If I slow down, that will increase the time we remain exposed, but it will give us a greater reserve of speed if we must run for it. I must consider this carefully.”

  “As you wish, Captain. I’ll be ready to give whatever I can.”

  Harry got out of his chair. “Reza, you have the ship. I need to clear my head.” He paused at the door. “I’m going to shower and get something to eat. Call me if our shadow makes any alteration.”

  “Yes, sir. I’ll call you if there’s any change.” Reza smiled. He’d come to like and admire Harry in the last months. His Commander’s habit of washing and changing when he anticipated action was something all his crew recognised as his way of being ready for anything and accepting the likelihood that it would involve many hours in his command chair.

  Reza added, “Do you think we’ll have to fight?”

  Harry smiled. “I hope not. He looks quite a bit bigger than we are. I’d rather lose him or outrun him, but he may have friends somewhere ahead of us. We may not be able to dodge them so easily. It’s best to be prepared, come what may.”

  The shower and change of clothes revived him and gave him time to think, and he explored the star maps while he ate. When he returned to the control room, he was refreshed, alert and forming a possible plan.

  “Our tail is still in place, sir. Course unchanged, ETA now seventy-eight hours, forty-two minutes.”

  “Thank you, Reza.” He took his seat again. “Scan, is anything coming up ahead of us on long range?”

  “Negative, sir.”

  “Very well.” He drummed his fingers on the armrest. “Reza, in half an hour we’ll drop out. That will place us in the system designated Ibn Sina 787. We’ll find a place to hide and see what happens.”

  “Ibn Sina?” The Lieutenant looked surprised. “I don’t think I’ve heard of it, sir.” He did a quick search on his console. He frowned. “Looks like quite a violent system—lots of asteroids and debris to dodge.”

  “Exactly—plenty of things to hide between, and enough to make it difficult for anything bigger than us to find us.”

  Reza grinned. “As you say, sir. What then?”

  “If this works, we may lose our tail and can dodge whatever they have waiting for us.” Harry crooked an eyebrow and added in a sardonic tone, “If it doesn’t, we’ll have to find another way to discourage him.”

  “Contact, sir.” The ScanRate’s tone was tense. “One ship, cruiser or larger, closing from bearing green fifteen, positive angle ten.”

  “Damn. Sound action stations. Can you give me an identity?”

  “No, sir. He doesn’t show as one of ours, and he’s not got an active transponder.”

  Harry’s crew assumed their places. He listened to and acknowledged the changes of roles as the coxswain took the helm, Regidur armed the weapons systems and Reza activated the damage control section adjoining the engineering control. Through his cyberlink, Harry explored the star charts. If they dropped out immediately, where would they be? What new dangers would they face? He found a solution.

  “How long before we’re in range?” he asked Regidur.

  “Four minutes, thirty-three seconds, Leader—for his weapons. Six minutes for our own.”

  Harry nodded. “Very well.” In his head, he watched the seconds tick down. “Helm. Drop out—now!” Already he was calculating a change of course and a short micro-transit. The ship dropped into a system dominated by a pair of stars and very little else except two rather large planets, each with a plethora of asteroids and small moons circling them in a series of rings.

  “He’s followed us, sir. Bearing red one-thirty, negative angle fifteen. He’s turning.”

  “Helm, micro-transit to the coordinates on your screen now.”

  “Aye, aye, sir.” The displays showed that 847 was very close to the largest of the moons on the inner planet.

  “He hasn’t followed us, sir. Seems like he’s unsure.”

  Harry asked the ship, “Does he make any effort to contact you?”

  “No, Harry. It is like the other one. I do not think the AI is active.”

  “I think he’s spotted us, sir. He’s closing our position.”

  Harry thought furiously. If he attempted to transit, it was likely they would find the other ship waiting, and this one would soon close the trap. At the same time, it was too large and powerful for Harry to make a fight of it.

  “Does that ship show signs of human presence?”

  “Yes, sir, but it’s not the distribution we normally see.”

  Damn and double damn. So there were humans aboard, yet the ship did not appear to be under human command—or the AI was damaged in some way. “Anything else? What about other life signs?”

  The ScanRate adjusted his controls. “Oxygen is a bit high. There’s some kind of large life form—or a concentration of bodies—just forward of her engineering spaces, sir.”

  Harry felt the clutch of uncertainty and something else. Was this fear? He made up his mind. “Regidur, arm your incendiary missiles and prepare to fire them. Target his engineering spaces. Helm, I want to close him head-on. Target the port fin hangar launch doors.” He said a quick prayer for help. “Eight four seven, I want to make them think I will ram them, but as soon as Regidur launches the missiles, we will transit. Can you do this for me?”

  “Yes, Harry.”

  “Enemy will be in visual range in four minutes, sir.”

  “We will move on my mark.” Harry’s palms were damp, and he clenched his fists as he waited, his eyes boring into the display around him. There! A new object came into view. At first it swung away, and he began to think it might have lost them, but then it swung back and nosed toward them, getting closer by the second. “Ready, weapons? Helm?”

  “Aye, aye, sir,” said the Coxswain, and a grunt of assent came from Regidur.

  “On my mark then.” He listened to the clock counting the seconds, his eyes locked on the approaching ship. “Three …two…one…now!”

  The powerful little 847 leapt into life. The bigger ship turned away, some of her plasma turrets swinging round to track the hurtling corvette.

  “Missiles away.”

  “Transit!” Harry ticked off the seconds in his hea
d then barked the order, “Drop out!”

  The display went from the grey of hyperspace to the blackness of the system, and the ship lurched slightly as she passed close to a large asteroid.

  “Target is hit, sir. Looks like she’s lost her aft end.”

  “Good. Was there any indication of the other ship?”

  “Yes, sir. Caught a contact, then we dropped out again.”

  Damn, Harry cursed inwardly. So the second ship had no intention of aiding the one he attacked. What now? “Regidur, how many missiles do we have remaining?”

  “We carry eight more incendiary and twelve of the explosive type, Leader.”

  “Very well.” Harry considered this. “If we must engage again, use a mix of incendiary and explosive. I don’t know what we’re facing here. At least if we weaken him, we can escape.” He switched his attention to the ship they had just evaded. “Has she launched any lifepods?”

  “Negative, sir. She’s just sitting there. There’s no change to the life signs readings either—they’re still where they were except for the bit she’s lost.”

  “Very well. I think we may conclude that she’s now in Niburu hands.”

  Harry checked their position. If they went to transit, the companion ship would most likely be waiting for them. There didn’t seem to be any alternative. No matter what he did now, they would have to enter hyperspace to do it, and that meant confronting the second ship. He seemed to be completely out of ideas. He closed his eyes and prayed briefly, then rubbed his hands over his eyes. At least they could hide among the densest part of the rings for a while until he could think of something.

  “Helm, take us into that cluster of asteroids. Regidur, check our stealth shield please. I’m not sure it’s working. They seem able to see us.” He touched his comlink. “Ferghal, Reza, meet me in the wardroom, please. Regidur, you have the ship.”