There was no answer, only the growling of a jammer. Then:
“Captain.”
“Galyan, I want you to repeat your message and—”
“Sir, it’s me, Lieutenant Sims. The scout has you on his HUD-scope. You’re running. Is anyone chasing you?”
“Vendels!” Maddox shouted. “The Vendels are here.”
“You’d better hurry back then, sir. The professor just told us there’s a new threat from inside the dome.”
“What threat?” Maddox shouted.
The growling sounds returned to the headphones, cutting his communication with Sims.
With grim determination, Maddox strained to reach the dome. It seemed as if a storm had just unleashed against them, with everything happening at once. Had that been the plan all along, or had the hidden enemy finally moved because they were too close to the prize?
Maddox had no idea, but he planned to find out as quickly as he could.
-53-
Lieutenant Noonan wanted someone to tell her what to do. She stared expectantly at Galyan, waiting for him to tell her what the captain had said.
Strand watched her on the main screen. He seemed impervious to time, imperious to embarrassment. The man just stared at her as if he could read her soul. It was unnerving.
Galyan stirred, glancing at her. The holoimage made a subtle gesture.
Valerie straightened in the command chair, forcing herself to meet Strand’s gaze. “I will have to get back to you, sir.”
“Why?” asked the Methuselah Man.
“If you’ll give me a few minutes,” Valerie said. “I can answer you after that.”
“Don’t take too long,” Strand warned. “Or I’ll have to make what deal I can with the Juggernauts.”
Valerie glanced at communications. The warrant officer there tapped her panel. Strand vanished from the screen.
“Well?” Valerie asked Galyan. “What did the captain say?”
“He did not have an opportunity,” the holoimage said. “Someone cut our communications with high-grade jamming equipment before he could give an order.”
“Someone planetary-bound jammed you?” Valerie asked.
“That is my estimation.”
Valerie gripped her left elbow. What should she do now? Strand was entirely untrustworthy. How did he happen to be here at this time? Clearly, he wanted what they wanted. He may even have caused some of their problems. But five Juggernauts accelerating at him changed the equation. Once they chased off or destroyed Strand’s star cruiser, the Juggernauts would come after Victory.
“Give me a projection of the system,” Valerie ordered.
A projection appeared on the main screen. Sind II had two Juggernauts in stationary orbit near the North Pole. One of those war-vessels was badly damaged. The other one looked sound. Victory was near the South Pole in a stationary orbit. The Star Cruiser Argo was behind a tiny moon belonging to Sind III. Five terrifyingly intact Juggernauts headed for Sind III. They had appeared fifteen minutes ago at the Laumer-Point midway between Sind III and IV. The twenty-kilometer war-vessels accelerated hard for Sind III. The commander of the Juggernaut flotilla seemed well-aware of Strand’s star cruiser. The enemy commander had not answered any of Valerie’s hails. He, she or it seemed determined to annihilate everything foreign in the star system.
There were seven Juggernauts altogether. Victory could not hope to face so many in direct combat and survive. Victory and Argo could not take on seven such war-vessels at the same time either. Therefore, what was Strand thinking?
“I would like your opinion,” Valerie told Galyan. “For one thing, I want to know why Strand doesn’t flee the system. Isn’t the Methuselah Man notorious for staying out of dangerous situations?”
“Certainly, Strand has a safety fetish,” the AI said. “He has however attempted more than one dangerous mission, if that mission would provide him with a highly advantageous item or piece of knowledge. I believe Strand desires whatever the captain has or is about to uncover in the subterranean realm.”
“I agree with the last part. But does that make sense for Strand? No treasure is worth your life. Even if our two ships worked together, how could we defeat seven Juggernauts?”
“The first move would be for us to hunt down and destroy the two war-vessels in Sind II orbit. Then it would be Victory and Argo against five Juggernauts. That becomes a more thinkable achievement.”
“Destroying our two might not be so easy,” Valerie said. “We could end up playing tag around the planet with them.”
“Perhaps that is how Strand will help us. Surely, he can use his star drive to jump here.”
“The star drive,” Valerie said. “That’s how we’ll catch the Juggernauts.” She tried to envision that by recalling the first fight against a Juggernaut in the black hole system “We can destroy the damaged war-vessel easily enough,” she said. “The other one…it could end up being a tough fight.”
“There is another consideration,” Galyan said. “Who is disrupting our communications with the captain? Why hasn’t the captain used the jumpfighters to return to us? How did he fare in the underground city?”
Valerie shook her head. “I haven’t forgotten those things. They’re secondary at the moment. I don’t know that I have a choice in this. Yes, Strand is treacherous—”
“I suggest the Methuselah Man has an ulterior motive,” Galyan said, interrupting.
“I know he has. But isn’t that how Ludendorff plays?”
“I see you have made up your mind. In that case, you should proceed at once.”
Valerie frowned as she turned to communications. “Please reconnect me with the Methuselah Man.”
Strand reappeared on the main screen, sitting in his command chair aboard Argo. He did not greet her again. Instead, he waited like an evil gnome, waiting for her to agree to a lopsided bargain.
“I conditionally agree to your proposal,” Valerie said slowly.
“Where are Captain Maddox and Professor Ludendorff?”
“I am in command of the starship, and I have full authority to make a pact with you.”
Strand steepled his fingers. “This is interesting news. It implies your captain is on the planet, or perhaps ‘in the planet’ is more apt.”
Valerie deliberately closed her mouth. Two could play a waiting game.
“Before we proceed,” Strand said, “I also have a condition. You must return Dem Darius to me.”
Valerie opened her mouth to respond, but stopped short as Galyan made a throat-clearing noise. She glanced at the holoimage.
He whispered, “Strand is probing for information.”
Valerie had to think about that. Was Galyan—oh. How did Stand know whether they had the New Man or not? What would Maddox do in this situation? Of course, the captain would lie straight-faced. Valerie didn’t like lying, but she was responsible for the ship and crew.
“I’m afraid I don’t understand,” she said.
Strand smiled fixedly. “You’re lying, of course. It’s obvious by your strain. So… You captured my New Man. I demand that you immediately return my property to me.”
“That’s out of the question,” Valerie said. “You’ll have to wait until you can speak to the captain about that.”
Strand eyed her. “I see. You are a mulish and unimaginative individual. A typical Star Watch officer. I suppose the only point in your favor is that you’re a poor liar. Once you agree to a thing, you will do it. Otherwise, your conscience would eat you alive.”
“That’s better than being a treacherous dog like you,” Valerie said, stung.
Strand laughed. “I have completed my assessment of you, Lieutenant. I will begin to accelerate to Sind II. The Juggernauts will undoubtedly follow me to the planet. I suggest you destroy the two Juggernauts there. Otherwise, the machines will attempt to trap me between them.”
“I have a question before we begin,” Valerie said.
Strand made a bland gesture.
&n
bsp; “Why don’t you use your star drive to escape the system?”
The wizened Methuselah Man stared at her for several seconds. “I suppose you don’t know yet.”
Valerie shook her head, having no idea what he was talking about.
“The Juggernauts have more than tractor beams,” Strand said. “They have a dampening field as well. I am already in their dampening-field range. That field stymies any efforts to jump. It keeps enemy ships honest. More to the point, it forces them to fight. You see, Lieutenant, unless you jump now, Victory will soon be in the dampening field as well. Yet you can’t jump now, because your captain and more of your people must be inside the planet. That is what we refer to as a dilemma. I hope you enjoy yours, Lieutenant. You may discover before this is over that you’ll be begging to hand Darius back to me, if I’ll save you from certain destruction.”
A host of retorts bubbled in Valerie. She swallowed them all. She hated bragging. She would let the outcome be her retort.
“How do I know you won’t backstab us?” Valerie asked.
“For the best reason of all, I desire life. As long as the Juggernauts are against us, we must stick together.”
“What happens when they’re gone—providing we can defeat them?”
“I suggest we agree ahead of time to depart peacefully at that point. At the very least, I will return to Sind III, and we can continue our hide-and-seek game.”
Valerie had no doubt Strand was lying when he said that. Her gaze wandered to the five intact Juggernauts accelerating for Sind III. Could this be an elaborate trap? She didn’t think so. The Juggernauts were not subtle players. They were killing machines that fixated on their target the first chance they had. That meant Strand was playing straight with her regarding a temporary alliance.
“If you accelerate here,” Valerie said. “I will stand with you against the Juggernauts.”
Strand leaned forward on his chair. “Do you give me your word as a Star Watch officer?”
“I do.”
“Then, I accept. I will begin accelerating at once.” With that, the Methuselah Man vanished from the screen.
“Strand is a dishonest ally,” Galyan said.
“I know.”
“I learned much Earth lore during my orbital stays around the planet. One old saying comes to mind.”
Valerie waited.
“When a bear is chasing you,” Galyan said, “you do not have to outrun the bear. You just have to outrun the other person running from the bear. In those cases, the best course is often to shoot the other person in the leg.”
Valerie stared at the holoimage. “What do you do when there are seven bears instead of just one?”
“You are correct, Valerie. It is time to go bear-hunting.”
Valerie sat up in the command chair. They had two Juggernauts to deal with, one intact and one damaged. “All hands,” Valerie said. “This is your acting captain speaking. We are about to head into battle…”
-54-
Valerie focused on the tactical situation. Two enemy vessels waited at Sind II’s North Pole. One of the Juggernauts might be the equal of Victory. The other one seemed to be barely holding itself together—if the former data still held.
In many ways, space battle was a mathematical formula, with X standing for the unknown variables. The Juggernauts had fantastic armor but no electromagnetic shields. It took heavy pounding from the disrupter cannon to breach the enemy armor.
Before she began the fight, Valerie had to decide on tactics. Was it better to take out the weak ship before concentrating on the stronger vessel? If she could destroy the strong war-vessel, the weak one would fall easily enough. But as she concentrated on the strong one, the weak one could stand back and add its attack values to the battle.
“I’m not sure what to do,” Valerie said under her breath. That was a terrible admission. She could not let any of the bridge crew know that. That could affect their morale, which was an X factor. Yet, she could only sit here looking confident for so long. The others expected her to think this through carefully. They knew she wasn’t Maddox. He would have already made a snap decision. She was more deliberate, more by the book.
What did the book say about such a situation?
Valerie leaned forward. She needed advice. Driving Force Galyan had once commanded his star system’s fleet. He might have an answer for her.
She moistened her lips, but hesitated saying the words.
Valerie could feel the pressure building up. She knew the bridge crew was growing suspicious. The helmsman glanced back at her. The warrant officer running communications traded glances with the weapons officer.
Valerie’s throat tightened, and she felt a pain in her chest. The decision was up to her. This was even worse than the time Admiral von Gunther had told her to flee the battlefield when Star Watch first faced the New Men.
The holoimage floated closer. Was Galyan about to offer some unasked for advice? It was bad when subordinates felt they could chime in with advice whenever they wanted. An instructor at the Academy—an old starship captain—had told the class once to listen respectfully to all advice from those when asked. But to frown at and even reprimand those who gave unsolicited advice.
To forestall the AI from speaking and to keep her from making an uncomfortable decision, Valerie snapped her fingers. Others looked up at her with expectant faces.
Instead of ducking her head and hiding, Valerie stood and put her hands behind her back. Slowly, she walked toward the main screen.
Quit stalling.
That’s when it came to her. Valerie smiled, and she failed to see the helmsman and warrant officer raise their eyebrows. Neither of them had ever seen the lieutenant smile so predatorily.
“Galyan,” Valerie said. “Do you recall the Ulant System? The ping we spotted near the super-Jupiter?”
“I do,” Galyan said.
“We used a decoy to fix the ping’s attention so we could slip away unnoticed. Well, we’re going to use another decoy. This one will serve a dual purpose. Communications, I am going to need you to coordinate with weapons. Are you ready?”
The warrant officer and the weapons officer both nodded.
“Here’s what we’re going to do…” Valerie said.
***
Less than an hour later, the image of Starship Victory climbed out of the South Pole region, accelerating for the equator.
It was an advanced decoy/holoimage. The drone projecting the vast deception provided a host of electronic signatures. Those were for the enemy sensors to pick up and verify that it was indeed the starship.
Behind the decoy at a good distance followed a flock of heavy drones. They spread out as they traveled in order to increase their odds of survivability later.
Valerie stood before the main screen on the real Victory.
“It’s moving,” the sensors officer reported.
Valerie pointed at sensors. The officer clicked a switch. The main screen showed the tactical situation on one side and the South Pole region on the other.
The intact Juggernaut began to move. It left the North Pole and headed for the equator where the image of Victory headed. The damaged Juggernaut hung back, remaining in stationary orbit at the North Pole.
Would the damaged Juggernaut stay there? Or would it soon follow the intact one in order to add its weapons to the battle? Maybe the enemy commander wished to save the damaged Juggernaut and bring it home for repairs.
“Well?” Valerie snapped.
“The damaged war-vessel appears to be holding its polar orbital position,” the sensors officer said.
Valerie wanted to smile, but she was certain that would jinx her luck. I’d like a clean win. I’d like to show everyone that I can do this. I can win—
“The intact enemy vessel is scanning the holoimage,” sensors said.
Valerie held her breath. This was the test. Would the enemy commander fall for the ruse? They should know in seconds.
“The Juggern
aut is accelerating,” sensors said.
“Why is it doing that?” asked the weapons officer.
The sensors and weapons officers looked to Valerie as if she should know.
Captain Maddox would remain sphinxlike in such a situation. Valerie felt the pressure to give them a reason. She opened her mouth and then realized giving an inept answer would make her look stupid. Thus, she forced herself to smile enigmatically, as if she had foreseen this exact outcome.
The weapons officer gave the sensor officer a thumbs up, as if to say, “See. This is going smoothly.”
Quit second-guessing yourself. You can do this. Just stick to the plan.
“The Juggernaut will be in line-of-sight of the decoy in eleven minutes,” the sensors officer said.
Valerie took a deep slow breath and headed for her chair. She sat down, straightened a crease in her pants and gave the order.
This was it. This was the gamble. She was laying everything on the line on a baited decoy to lure the strong ship away from the weak. She made a swift calculation on a tablet and then said, “Get ready. We will jump in four minutes.”
***
Victory used its star drive to shift from the South Pole region to one thousand kilometers above the planetary surface of the North Pole. That put it well “above” the damaged Juggernaut in relation to the planet.
Valerie raised her head from where she had slumped. She squeezed her eyes shut, wondering what had happened—
“We jumped,” she said. “Sensors…” Valerie fell silent because she couldn’t think what she should say. It came to her that she had slight Jump Fatigue, which was many degrees less than Jump Lag.
“Weapons, Sensors, Galyan, can anyone hear me?”
“Yes, Valerie,” the flickering holoimage said.
“What’s happening?” she asked.
“The ship is sluggish, as am I. The enemy vessel has begun to accelerate away.”
“Sensors, give me an image,” Valerie said.
The rest of the bridge crew stirred. The sensors officer tapped her panel. An image wavered into life on the main screen.
The Lost Planet (Lost Starship Series Book 6) Page 29