The Kali was of course decelerating, but still moving away from the Alpha Shaitan system down south of the solar plane. It would be almost a year before it returned back to the Alpha Shaitan system. The last report from Kali reported all systems as nominal.
The Genghis Khan was on routine patrol around the Alpha Shaitan system, since it was its turn to do so. In a few weeks, they would replace the Avenger in its position as the three ships rotate positions. There was nothing for the Genghis Khan to report either.
Admiral Dar leaned back in his chair and sighed. Now he had to figure out some work to do to fill up the rest of his day. He not just had to be working, but to be seen to be working as an example for his subordinates. The problem was that there was no meaningful work for him to do right now. He decided, that he would get himself some tea and then start dictating his memoirs.
Hamid preferred to go to the Mess Hall and have his tea there, while he talked to the crew. It kept him in touch. The condition 2 alarm sounded while he was in the Mess Hall getting his tea. He took one look at the display and ran back towards the Flag Bridge. As he crossed the Bridge on his way to the Flag Bridge, he saw Capt. Brogan sitting in his chair and monitoring something on the screen.
Admiral Dar decided to get the briefing from the horse’s mouth instead of his own staff. He went up to the captain. Capt. Brogan saw Hamid coming and started to get up. “As you were captain. I just want to know what is going on.” Hamid said while raising his palm to indicate Capt. Brogan to keep sitting.
“A new Shaitan ship’s signature has been detected sir. You are not going to believe from where sir – it is from the Watering Hole!” Capt. Brogan said.
“Tango-6?” Asked Admiral Dar.
“No sir. This is a different ship. From initial estimates it is a smaller ship, I was just confirming the drive signature when you arrived. It looks the same as the first scout ship that came to the solar system over 60 years ago. This seems like the same class of ship. We now know from Shaitan records that this is essentially a civilian class of ship which is used for logistics, scientific research and exploration on medium range expeditions of a thousand AU around their home world.” Capt. Brogan said.
“Ah… I see.” Admiral Dar said.
“There is more sir…” Capt. Brogan said hesitantly. Admiral Dar raised his eyebrows in an asking gesture so Capt. Brogan continued. “This was exactly the same type of ship that was used in the Kinetic Holocaust… and the really chilling news is where this bogey is heading, sir. It will take some time more, after we have observed the bogey for about another hour or so to confirm the exact heading. However the initial reading suggests that it is heading straight towards the heart of the solar system and Earth!”
“Is Genghis Khan in the loop?” Admiral Dar asked.
“Yes sir. All three of us saw the bogey’s engines light up at the same time. The bogey is not exactly trying to hide itself. It probably thinks that it can escape before we have a chance to stop it.” Capt. Brogan said dubiously.
“If I recollect correctly, the scout ship had a pathetic acceleration rate compared to an Avenger class ship. Surely the Shaitans know that as well as we do. Shaitans are not known to make such basic calculation mistakes. Something is amiss here. I just can’t put my finger on what it is.” Admiral Dar replied.
“Yes sir. I agree, but we still have to formulate a response. The Genghis Khan is requesting a conference with you sir. Shall I transfer it to your flag bridge?” Capt. Brogan asked.
“No need. We will take it here. I would appreciate your opinion on this one. While you are at it, hook in Capt. Sequeira as well.” Admiral Dar replied.
“Admiral, I assume you have been briefed on the situation sir. What are your orders for the Genghis Khan, sir?” Capt. Lai came straight down to business.
“I would like to hear your opinion first captain, before we formulate a response. I believe a few minutes will not make a difference.” Admiral Dar replied.
“I think this bogey was on some long term mission out of the Alpha Shaitan system when we started our campaign and has been hiding in the shadows ever since, either awaiting orders or waiting to strike at an appropriate moment. Further I believe that it spent some time at the Watering Hole extracting hydrogen fuel from the water, and has now topped up its tanks.
The bogey must have received its orders and thus it is proceeding towards Earth to execute another Kinetic attack. What the Shaitans call a Ka-ma-khya. The last Kinetic Holocaust was committed by a similar craft, so this seems the most plausible explanation to me, sir.” Capt. Lai said.
“I agree with your general prognosis captain, but I am troubled by one question. How do the Shaitans expect to get away with this? Surely they know that our ships can catch up with that bogey fairly easily, and destroy it with almost no effort, if the last scout vessel is anything to go. What troubles me is that if I know this fact, then surely the Shaitans know it as well. Why would the Shaitans then undertake such a venture? Any opinions gentlemen?” Admiral Dar asked an open ended question.
“It could be a bait, or a trap. May be they want us to chase that bogey. May be when we catch up with it, we will find that the bogey has more offensive capability than we expected. May be they just want us chasing that bogey to get our fleet in a place of their choosing, where they may have other ships waiting to spring an ambush.” Capt. Sequeira echoed the thoughts going around in all the men’s mind.
“Yes captain. That thought has occurred to me, and yet we cannot afford to ignore that bogey either. If we let it go, then it is capable of committing another Kinetic attack on Earth. The worst part is that the Shaitans would be aware of this fact as well, which makes this entire thing stink of a trap. Capt. Brogan, could you please list down our options.” Admiral Dar asked.
“First we could ignore the bogey, which as you correctly pointed out is not really an option for us. Second, we could send a single ship to chase and destroy that bogey. Third, all three ships could form up and fly in formation to catch up with the ship.
The third option is problematic on two counts. One, it would mean some delay, since the Genghis Khan is already out there in the open, and will have to wait for the other two ships to break out of orbit and join up with it. More critically though, it would mean that we abandon the Marines on Jehannum and AS-d, leaving them vulnerable.
If the bogey is really some kind of bait, then the ploy could equally be to get the 5th fleet out of the Alpha Shaitan system, so that a sneak attack from Tango-6 or some other remnant Shaitan Navy into the Alpha Shaitan system, can attack our marines from space and regain the mastery over the space around Alpha Shaitan. We will then have to capture the Alpha Shaitan system all over again.
Frankly even if we were to send a single ship as per our second option, it is in effect splitting up our fleet. Even if that single ship is not attacked, but Alpha Shaitan is, we will have just two ships to defend it. I am afraid none of the options look good to me.” Capt. Brogan enumerated the options in front of the 5th fleet.
“If this is a trap, then I don’t know which of the two options the Shaitans expect us to take, but if I was the Shaitan captain, then I would make contingency plans for either case. I expect that the Shaitans have done the same. The question and the challenge I throw to your captains is this. Can we come up with a plan which would make it look like we are following one of the options, but in reality we are following none.” Admiral Dar said.
“Are you suggesting Admiral that we ignore the bogey altogether i.e. take the first option that you yourself said was not really an option?” Capt. Lai asked incredulously.
“Yes and no captain. I am no mathematical wizards, but my mental calculation says that given the acceleration of the bogey, we don’t need to start chasing it immediately to be able to catch it. We could start chasing it even after a month and still be able to catch it, albeit a bit further away and thus taking more time.
So we ignore the bogey for the moment till we can either confi
rm that there is no trap awaiting us or, if there is one, then we uncover it and deal with it.” Admiral Dar said to his captains. They nodded their understanding and each one fell silent thinking of ways to make it appear that the humans were chasing the bogey and let the Shaitan reveal their hand, without putting the fleet in danger.
“It is a pity that our decoys carry a few hours of fuel. Otherwise we could have let the Genghis Khan release its decoy and follow the bogey. That way the Shaitans would have thought that we bought their ploy and would show their hand, while we wait in the dark somewhere else completely.” Capt. Sequeira said.
Capt. Brogan sat up and said. “The decoys may not be able to accelerate for long, but they can stay still forever! Deception doesn’t only mean a moving ship. A stationary ship is as convincing, as long as there are people observing it and are convinced about its existence!”
“Would you please care to elaborate captain?” Admiral Dar asked both intrigued and puzzled at Capt. Brogan’s Zen like utterance.
“Well sir it is like this… If this is an elaborate Shaitan ploy to lure us out into open space chasing that bogey, I am fairly certain that the Shaitans on Jehannum are privy to that fact. In fact the plan would require the Shaitans on Jehannum to observe our response and feed that information to any Shaitan ship out there waiting in the dark. As long as the Shaitans below on Jehannum are convinced that the Avenger and Redeemer are within the Alpha Shaitan system, the Shaitan ships lying in ambush will be convinced of the same.
So here is how we can convince the Shaitans that we have taken option two, and yet be somewhere else altogether. All three of us head off immediately at full acceleration towards the bogey, making it look like a panic reaction. Then around the 4 hour mark, all the three ships stop our engines completely. This is to give the impression, that we are having second thoughts, or have gathered our wits, and formulated a different plan.
The Avenger and the Redeemer would then release their remaining Active Decoy module and program it to head back towards their original positions inside the Alpha Shaitan system. To a Shaitan observing from Jehannum, the decoys will look exactly like the original. Fortunately the Avenger was in a very high orbit over Jehannum, so when the decoy returns to that position, even a telescope would not be able to make out the difference, given the poor lighting in the Alpha Shaitan system.
Meanwhile the Genghis Khan would restart its engines, and continue its chase of the bogey, but with a twist, literally. The Genghis Khan would not take a straight line course to intercept the bogey. Instead, it will take an arcing path. The Avenger and the Redeemer would now be running cold and silent in the same direction, but only with the momentum gained in the first 4 hours of acceleration. The two ships would effectively be still hanging around very close to the Alpha Shaitan system, as their speed would not be too great.” Capt. Brogan paused and looked at the Admiral to ascertain if he was making sense to them. The Admiral nodded for him to continue.
“Now imagine how it will look to a Shaitan. It would look like the humans reacted in panic initially, with all the three ships starting off a chase at full thrust. Then at some point, better sense prevailed on us, and we stopped to reflect what we were doing. It was realized that one of our ships was more than sufficient to chase down the bogey and destroy it.
Accordingly, the ship closest to the bogey was ordered to chase it, while the other two ships were given orders to return back to their posts. The Shaitans would be puzzled as to why the Genghis Khan was taking an arcing path. It is probable that the Shaitans would attribute this to the Genghis Khan being cautious in its line of approach, as must have been ordered by a human ‘Warmaster’.
The arcing path would however put a major spanner in the works as far as the Shaitan scheme is concerned. If the Shaitan ambush is lying in wait somewhere on the expected path of chase, then their calculations would be thrown haywire. For one the Genghis Khan would catchup with the bogey a lot later and hence at a different point in space than what the Shaitans would have calculated.
Second, if they are waiting somewhere in that line of approach, they will have to light up their engines and change course to reach Genghis Khan. This should give the Genghis Khan enough time and warning to react either by returning back to the Alpha Shaitan system, or the other two ships could come to its aid as a fleet. In effect it would force the Shaitans to show their hands, assuming they are up to no good.” Capt. Brogan looked at the Admiral expectantly, wanting feedback about what he thought of the idea.
Admiral Dar’s face was impassive. He turned to the screen and asked Capt. Lai. “Let the captain of Genghis Khan speak first about what he thinks of the idea. It will be the Genghis Khan which would bear most of the risk in this plan.”
There was a delay of about 15 seconds in the feed from the Genghis Khan, since it was about 15 light seconds away. Capt. Lai spoke after nearly 25 seconds, which indicated that he had put some thought to it. “As usual Capt. Brogan’s thought process is flawless as far as I am concerned. One of these days I hope to find some flaw in his reasoning, and I will make sure I don’t let him forget about that.” Capt. Lai said with a mischievous smile.
“For now unfortunately I have to agree with his logic. I do not believe that the Genghis Khan is in any more danger than can be expected in a war situation. It is no more risky than being ambushed right now in the patrol we are currently engaged in. I do not think we are putting the Genghis Khan in an inordinate and unwarranted amount of danger sir.” Capt. Lai finished his summation.
“I am glad to hear those words from the captain of the Genghis Khan, for those would have been my exact words. I am missing Capt. Jansen’s mathematical abilities, so Capt. Brogan, you will have to do the navigational calculations. We all need to be on the same page as far as navigation goes. You need to do those calculations in the next few minutes, if we are to convince the Shaitans that we are engaging in a panic reaction, so I will let you get on with it. Thank you all gentlemen and best of luck.” Admiral Dar said, and started walking towards the Flag Bridge indicating that the conference was over and everyone was expected to quickly get on with their individual parts in the deception.
Maj. Gen. Bassinger was informed that the fleet would be unavailable for support and strikes from space for the foreseeable future. The Marines were advised to modify their missions accordingly, or defer anything that required naval support. The three human ships then proceeded to perform their maneuvers.
The first test of their plan came in about 9 hours, when the Active decoys returned back to their orbit. One of the easiest way for the Shaitans to prove that they had seen through the human deception, would be for them to launch a surface to space missile to blow the decoys to smithereens. The decoys were completely defenseless. The Shaitans didn’t oblige, which did not prove that they had been fooled. The Shaitans could be playing a double game as well.
The third fleet had to go on the hope that the Shaitans had been fooled. As the Avenger and the Redeemer, slowly coasted in the dark, metaphorically and literally, all eyes were now turned on Genghis Khan. Other than a complete 4πr2 visual and EM scan to look out for any Shaitan ship’s signature, the Genghis Khan was continuously performing an active scan by pumping out laser and radar signals, hoping to get a bounce off from any hidden Shaitan ship hiding in the dark, running cold.
The behavior of Genghis Khan was consistent with its curved trajectory. It was the behavior of a ship which was being cautious and expected an ambush. The Avenger and the Redeemer were also on full sensor alert, but they could use only their passive scanner. In no way could they go active, lest they give out their own position.
After the seventh week of the chase, the humans were having their doubts. It seemed like the humans had unnecessarily overestimated the Shaitans. It didn’t seem like there would be any ambush. It seemed like the Shaitans had simply engaged in a very dumb idea, perhaps out of desperation or anger. The Genghis Khan, despite its curved trajectory had almost caught up with the
bogey.
If there had been any ambush planned lying in wait along the expected line of travel of Genghis Khan, by now those Shaitan ships would have had to show their hands by starting their engines. There were no such indication. Capt. Brogan didn’t know whether to be happy or disappointed about that fact. He guessed he should be happy that the Genghis Khan was in no danger. He couldn’t however suppress a bit of disappointment at the fact that his clever plan had all been for nothing.
Capt. Lai was also thinking about the same issue of a wasted elaborate ploy, and all of it for nothing. He however was taking pleasure in thinking of ways he would be needling his close friend and batch mate Capt. Brogan. Chasing ghosts. Capt. Lai would ensure that he reminded Capt. Brogan of it every day during their conversations.
The two of them were closer than the other two captains. They had something very personal in common. The two of them, unlike the other captains were ‘children of the holocaust’. It was something that had bonded them instantly at the USC advanced training school, when they had first come to know each other. As Capt. Lai was rehearsing all the phrases he was going to use to needle Capt. Brogan, he heard a ding in his head.
There was no loud blaring alarm ship wide or in the bridge, as the Genghis Khan went into condition 1 alert. It was not necessary. Every crew member was a tech head, and the alarm would play directly into his or her head. It was an alarm one couldn’t ignore, until one turned it off by a thought click inside their head. The lighting on the bridge and the entire ship did however change subtly. It would be a constant reminder that the ship was in battle alert.
Capt. Lai bumped his head as he rushed out of his bunk and cursed himself. Then he cursed himself again at the door of his ‘chamber’, which was nothing but the smallest room possible that could fit a bunk and a small study table. Still he had his own room as a captain, in this Avenger class ship, which was more than what a Nautilus class skipper could hope for.
Retribution (Shaitan Wars) Page 34