She said, “You can’t order me. I am a civilian and I report directly to the Armed Services Committee.”
Captain Padilla ordered Kana, “Have this civilian escorted off the bridge. She is to remain in her quarters, and is not to be allowed to communicate with anyone unless and until I give permission.”
She said, “Captain, I have been given carte blanche to observe, inspect and question anyone on this vessel, including you.”
Captain Padilla smiled nicely, “And so you shall; just not while we’re at Battle Stations.”
He turned his back on her and walked over to Lt. Cao, “Let’s assume that the destroyer might not be able to destroy the globe with missiles; that leaves a suicide attack. We know the range of the colony missiles was roughly two million kilometers. Let’s assume these guys have better range, better acceleration, so, say, three million kilometers, just to err on the side of continued breathing. Our ‘67’s have a little over one million, more if we shut down their drives. Let’s launch four heavies when they reach four million klicks. Shut them down at thirty seconds. These people have no experience with us, and I don’t think they’ll know about this technology. If they launch, we’ll reactivate the ‘67’s, but against their missiles, not their ship. Not their ship.”
She asked, “Their fighters?” He said, “If they launch, no matter the range, we’ll shoot the ‘15h’s, and shut them down to extend their range. I’ll want us to continue launching so as to get as many missiles into position as possible. We believe their fighters have two missiles, meaning ten total plus whatever that destroyer holds, probably more than a Dresden.”
He paused, “Change of tactics: we’ll hold our ER-15’s in reserve. We’ve got one hundred ‘67’s, we’ll use....ninety. I’ll want to begin launching once they fire up their targeting radar. They’ll be puzzled by our tactics, but once the missiles disappear off their sensors they won’t understand. I hope.”
He looked at the plot and resumed, “Assuming they continue to launch, as soon as they reach the range of our ‘67’s we’ll send them in all the way under power, same with the ‘h’s and then the ‘g’s. We’ll go to energy weapons at seventy thousand. Transmit this to Admiral Tretiakov.”
He walked over to Kana, “We’ve got a little time: comm each department head, have them stand down a few people at a time.”
The destroyer wasn’t accelerating much over two G’s, but over time, the relative velocity rapidly grew.
The plot began to show a confusing shuffling around of the X’Leem fleet. Captain Padilla quietly remarked, “I’ve been watching them for over six months, and I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s as if they’ve lost all or most of their central control.”
He turned back to Lt. Cao, “Set up a jump that places us back near the Gresham. Comm Admiral Tretiakov, add a copy of these sensor readings. He’ll know to increase his readiness.”
The Grant was close enough to the Gresham that transmissions were possible, although it would require roughly one minute, making discussion difficult.
At a distance of a little under four million kilometers, two missiles launched from the destroyer, followed moments later by a ragged launch from the escorting fighters. Within moments, Lt. Cao announced, “Targeting radar on D-17 seems to be controlling the missiles.” After a short pause, she added, “Their system is analogue. The fighter missiles seem to be identical, and....are now being guided by the destroyer.”
Captain Padilla nodded, “Makes sense; this society believes strongly in central control. Any way we can disrupt their signal? Analogue ought to be fairly straightforward.”
Lt. Cole said, “Sir, I’ve passed your request to Signals. They’re working on it.”
A moment later she said, “Sir, Signals believes that they can modify one of our drones.” Captain Padilla waved his hand, “Time?”
She passed on his question and said, “Sir, five minutes.” He walked over to the main plot and changed the view to one showing the destroyer out at one edge and the three huge globes at the other. Pulsing red lines marked the progress of the missiles, with legends showing the running time, approximate acceleration and time to impact. The Dresden’s computers were reasonably powerful and had already verified that the target was one of the three globes. In point of fact, it didn’t really matter, as all three would consider the attack as being against their fleet, their race.
A message arrived, “Grant, this is the Gresham. We have forwarded your plans to the X’Leem. They have acknowledged, state that they understand that you will not attack any X’Leem vessel. We verified that the Grant will be able to stop a missile attack from that one destroyer plus five fighters, may not be able to stop an attack if additional units join D-17. Gresham out.”
Captain Padilla smiled, “Neat. They ‘understand’ that our efforts will be to knock down incoming missiles; they haven’t said if or when they can regain control of that vessel, or maintain control of all the others.”
The incoming missiles crossed over into the extended envelope of the now eight ‘67’s, but Captain Padilla ordered, “Hold off going active. We’ve got another nine or ten minutes. I want to see if they’ll continue launching.”
Over the next five minutes the Grant launched the drone, which began accelerating at a low rate. The destroyer now had twelve missiles in flight, plus nine of the ten from the fighters. The tenth suffered a drive failure, although they had to consider that the warhead was still live.
Signals commed the bridge, “Captain, we’ve got a good link. Estimate that our signal strength ought to be able to disrupt their link at roughly twenty thousand kilometers.”
Captain Padilla promptly asked, “Time?”
Signals answered, “Fifteen minutes, twenty seconds.” Captain Padilla ordered, “Engage at sixteen minutes.”
He turned back to Lt. Cao, “Target the nine fighter missiles with the first ‘67’s; as soon as a ’67 comes into range, target the closest destroyer missiles.”
Moments later, twelve small outgoing gravity drives came up, highlighted on the plot in green.
Over the next fifteen minutes the destroyer continued to launch additional missiles, even as it continued to accelerate.
Kana quietly told the captain, “Sir, their acceleration is far below what we know they are capable of. I believe they want the globes to attack.” Captain Padilla smiled, “Or, they are trolling for other ships to join them. Question is why?”
Kana shook his head, “I can’t think of a logical reason. Sir, forward that question to the Gresham, maybe the X’Leem representative will have something.”
Captain Padilla turned to Lt. Cao, “Lieutenant, request that the Gresham ask the X’Leem representative for any insights into this attack. The destroyer is barely accelerating, leading me to conclude they may want their leadership to retaliate. We have little time left.”
Nine flashes erupted, marking the destruction of all the fighter missiles. Moments later, three of the now sixteen destroyer missiles disappeared.
Periodically, the Grant forwarded reports to the Gresham. In pairs, the outgoing ‘67’s intercepted the incoming missiles, creating immense blossoms of light that were so distant they couldn’t have been seen with the naked eye.
Captain Padilla watched the plot and shook his head in frustration, “It now ought to be obvious that they can’t get their missiles past us, so what are they going to do next?”
Kana said, “My guess? That destroyer will increase acceleration.” Captain Padilla agreed, “Yeah, but what about the fighters? How do we stop them without killing them?”
Signals commed the bridge, “Drone is now close enough that our signal strength ought to be able to disrupt their link.”
Captain Padilla ordered, “Go live.”
Lt. Cao modified the plot to show in orange a faint cloud, denoting the coverage of their signal.
Over the next few minutes four X’Leem missiles entered the coverage area of the drone. Signals commed again, “Captain
, we have broken their link with the nearest four missiles. They’ve changed course, and we believe they are using a backup system and are now targeting the Grant.”
Captain Padilla ordered, “Launch four ER-15h’s, targeting those four. What can you tell me about the backup targeting system?” Lt. Cao said, “Internal sensors sir, probably not infrared, not radar. We’re working on it.”
Kana quietly asked, “Capacitor noise?” Lt. Cao started to shake her head, but stopped. “Possible.” She made a number of entries at her console and smiled, “Probable.” He turned to Captain Padilla, “Sir, perhaps we could modify a couple of ER’s, give them back their pre-Bug noise, might distract them, might get some intel out of it.”
He said, “Won’t help with this lot, but I concur. Make the call.”
Over the next hour, they detonated missile after missile. The drone continued to close on the destroyer, which finally figured out the connection between their loss of control and that slow moving object.
Two fighters changed course heading toward the drone. Instead of destroying it, they continued to approach. Captain Padilla ordered, “Kill the drone.”
Lt. Cao sent the order and it disappeared, minutes before the closest fighter could pull alongside.
Kana said, “Sir, they appear just as interested in our tech base as we are in theirs.”
Lt. Cao said, “Captain, we’re down to thirty-four light missiles, forty-seven heavies.”
He said, “Go to energy weapons. I want to hold back on the gravity weapon.”
At just over two million kilometers, the destroyer upped its acceleration to seven G’s, slowed, drifted, began making a turn away from the main fleet.
The Gresham signaled, “What if anything is happening with D-17?” Captain Padilla said, “It upped its acceleration, cut it and is now turning away. What have you been told?”
Admiral Tretiakov said, “We’ve been told what time it is, and that was inaccurate. My people believe they’ve somehow regained control of the ship.”
The destroyer exploded.
Lt. Cao asked, “Who did that? The fleet?”
Captain Padilla said, “Doubt they’d tell you. I think the possible mutineers on that ship possibly had a possible backup plan in case they possibly lost control, if they had control and if there were mutineers.”
The four fighters began accelerating toward the fleet, meaning, toward them. At Captain Padilla’s request, Lt. Cao passed on the information to the Gresham and asked for guidance.
Admiral Tretiakov came on, “We have been asked if we can disable the fighters. I told them no. Any ideas?” Captain Padilla looked to Kana and quietly asked, “What kind of damage could those fighters do?”
Kana said, “Kinetic energy would be high, but I don’t think greater than our ’67, which doesn’t do all that much.”
Captain Padilla nodded, “Perhaps, but it would set a very bad precedent. Ask the Gresham if we are being asked to disable. If so, and we can, are we to assist the pilots? If we are unable to disable, are we asked to destroy them?”
Lt. Cao passed on the questions and then asked, “Sir, I know of no means by which we can deliberately disable those fighters.” He nodded, “We know next to nothing about the way they think, their inner workings. Anything I can learn is a plus. In point of fact, I do have some thoughts on disabling.”
He turned to Kana, “What about a rapid series of moderate gravity pulses?”
Kana made a call, passed on the question and said, “They’re modeling it. Might work, might work too well or not well enough.”
The five fighters were now at twelve G’s. Captain Padilla said, “First time we’ve seen them accelerate that fast. They’ve been holding out on us.”
Admiral Tretiakov called, “Do you know something I don’t? None of my people have any information on disabling a fighter.”
Captain Padilla said, “Possible. Do they want us to try? We’re running out of time.”
The admiral said, “Wait one.”
He said, “You have their...permission.”
Kana smiled, “Permission. They’ve turned it around so it seems as if we are asking them, rather than the other way around.”
Captain Padilla told Lt. Cao, “I want five gravity pulses, say, one-half second apart, fifty percent. If that produces no effect, up it to sixty, seventy and eighty. If that doesn’t work, hold while I pass on the information.”
He said, “Admiral, we’re going to attempt to disable the craft. Please pass on the warning that we can offer no guarantee that it won’t cause catastrophic damage to the craft or pilot. I request an acknowledgment. We have approximately seven minutes before they can take us under fire. If they do, I request permission to return fire.”
He meant, kill.
Admiral Tretiakov said, “They don’t want you to destroy the fighters.” Captain Padilla promptly requested, “Sir, permission to jump back to your location.”
Kana grinned, “You suck at poker, but you play a mean game of war.”
Captain Padilla said, “As I recall, last time we played, you lost.” Kana grinned, “Not to you.”
Captain Padilla smiled, “But you lost.” Kana shook his head, “In point of fact, Mona took me for fifteen dollars and seventy-five cents. The thing is, she’s my wife, meaning I merely transferred money from my personal account to my wife’s personal account, thus no net loss.”
Captain Padilla commed the Gresham, “Admiral?”
He turned to Kana, “But you lost.”
Admiral Tretiakov commed, “Wait one.”
Kana said, “You lost, I’m married to Mona, the one who won.”
Captain Padilla snorted, “I think Mona won you in a poker game. Couldn’t have been any other reason.” Kana pointed a stiff finger at his captain, “Ergo, I won.”
Captain Padilla laughed.
Admiral Tretiakov commed, “Captain Padilla, you are authorized to attempt to disable the four fighters. If, in your efforts, you kill the pilots, you are hereby absolved of any responsibility. Under no circumstances are those fighters allowed to get within one hundred thousand kilometers of the globes.”
Captain Padilla asked, “Under no circumstances? Including destruction of the craft?” Admiral Tretiakov said, “That is correct. You may proceed. Keep me informed.”
Captain Padilla repeated, “I understand that the X’Leem request that this command, the DE/M Grant, attempts to disable the four X’Leem fighter craft currently accelerating on a heading that intersects the X’Leem command authority. Additionally, if in our efforts to disable those craft, they are destroyed, we are absolved of all responsibility; finally, we are authorized to use deadly force to prevent those same four craft from getting within one hundred thousand kilometers or less of the X’Leem command authority. Do we have authorization to proceed?”
After a moment, Admiral Tretiakov answered, “Yes. Proceed.”
His tone of voice conveyed a sense of urgency, almost certainly not his.
Captain Padilla gave the order and the closest fighter was targeted with a series of moderate gravity pulses. It promptly tumbled, but within a moment resumed acceleration on the same heading. Captain Padilla quietly ordered, “Sixty percent. Again.”
This time the ship began tumbling and didn’t recover. He ordered, “Simultaneously target the other three.”
It took a moment to program, but then Lt. Cao said, “Sir, any time.” He said, “Now.”
Two of the craft lost acceleration and began tumbling, the third exploded.
Captain Padilla passed on the information. After a brief pause, Admiral Tretiakov ordered, “Jump back to my position. Do not attempt a rescue.”
The jump had already been programmed, and fifteen seconds after receiving the order, the ship jumped.
Captain Padilla shuttled over to the Gresham and met with the admiral and his small staff, including some civilians, obviously and pointedly placed there to observe the military. The admiral didn’t know, but suspected
that one of them held a letter of authorization that would allow him or her to override any decision he made.
He would have done the same thing, but he didn’t like it since he had no idea what instructions that person might have received.
They met in a conference room with the X’Leem interpreter in attendance. They watched the recordings, stopping and starting as one or another person asked a question, frequently having to do with what Captain Padilla was thinking or what he meant.
It was disquieting.
Hawk Flight (Flight of the Hawk Book 3) Page 37