by D. J. Holmes
The techs of the RSN were constantly working on the armor configurations and shielding technology to try and the increase max speed. The most recent RSN ships were able to get 0.35c without their shields but that tech hadn’t existed when Drake left the construction yard eight years ago.
Including the time it would take to reach 0.31c, Drake would pass the fifth planet in eleven hours. If he wanted to enter orbit around the third planet they would have to start decelerating for a further two hours. James however, just wanted to pass the planet, use Drake’s survey scanners to have a look at it and then move on to the next system. Even so, it would take them almost seventeen hours to pass the planet and exit the system’s mass shadow again. He therefore wriggled into his command chair and prepared for the long wait.
Three hours later Fisher’s sensor station began to beep. “Sir, the first stealth drone is indicating it has picked up some ionized particles,” Fisher reported. “Stand by, the next data package will come through in ten seconds.”
Moments later she turned to the main holo-display. “It’s confirmed sir, there seems to be a trail of ionized particles running roughly parallel to the path of the drone.”
On the main holo-display the track of the drone appeared with a faint blue line roughly parallel to it two hundred thousand kilometers off its port bow. As the next data package came in Fisher updated the bridge. “The drone’s passive scanners are picking up a faint gravimetric signature. It could be from the mass of a spaceship sir but it is faint.”
“Will the drone be able to re-orientate its visual scanners in time?” James asked.
The stealth drones had maneuvering thrusters but using them would guarantee detection. To avoid this they had the ability to redistribute some of their internal mass, causing a slight spin. By shifting its internal mass again it could halt the spin and thus bring their most powerful visual scanners to bear on anything they detected.
“I’m not sure sir,” Fisher replied. “The drone will pass whatever it has picked up in twenty seconds so we’ll know soon enough.”
Thirty seconds later the next data package came in the form of a visual of the object the stealth drone had detected. The drone managed to get twenty high powered shots of the object and so for the next ten minutes images were sent back to Drake by the drone. Sub Lieutenant Hanson had been pulling a double shift in order to man tactical and so it fell to him to try and identify the ship from the visuals. At four hundred thousand kilometers whatever it was, was at the very edge of the drone’s visual range and so the images were very poor. Yet estimating the length and breadth of the ship was a simple task for Drake’s computers. The ion trail from the ship’s engines gave an accurate position of the ship relative to the drone and it was simple mathematics to determine the size of the object in the visuals. Its speed was quickly calculated as the change in angle of the visuals combined with the known velocity of the drone indicated the direction and speed of the unknown ship.
After the last visual came through Hanson addressed the Commander. “Sir, the computer estimates that the unknown vessel is approximately two hundred and fifty to three hundred meters in length. It’s travelling at roughly 0.05c on a course parallel to the done heading towards the third planet. Its engines mustn’t be at more than 1% or else the drone would have picked up their energy signals rather than just their ion wake.”
“And can the computer identify what the ship actually is?” James probed.
“No sir,” Hanson responded, “the visuals are inconclusive.”
“Ok, well let’s assume that the ship is Chinese for the moment. We have had enough strange discoveries today without adding aliens to the list. Hanson, bring up known Chinese ships that fall into the profile of our unknown friend.”
On the holo-display three ships appeared, slowly rotating to give a 3600 view of each one. As he always did when he saw Chinese warships James paused momentarily to stare. Of all the various star faring powers, the Chinese starship designers seemed to take the most pride in their work. British ships were designed and built almost purely on functionality. That in itself gave them a certain look of sturdiness that was beautiful in its own right. By comparison the Chinese ships looked like a single missile would crumple them. Of course being armored in valstronium this was a mistake and so James wondered, as he often did, why the Admiralty couldn’t design ships to match the Chinese in beauty.
“Hanson, run us through what we’re looking at here, without looking at your terminal please,” James asked. He already knew each of the Chinese ship designs off by heart but he wanted to test Hanson and give the rest of the bridge a chance to digest the information.
“Yes sir,” Hanson began nervously. After a slight pause he continued a bit more firmly, “the first ship on your left is the most recent Chinese survey ship. Larger than their previous designs she carries a sensor suite almost equal to ours and is armed with four missile tubes and a single plasma cannon.”
“Thank you Hanson,” James interrupted. “We can probably discount our friend being a survey ship. Intelligence suggests the Chinese have only completed six of them so far and I can’t see them wasting one by leaving it sitting around a star system. You may move onto the other two if you would.”
“Yes sir, well the other two ships are both Chinese destroyers. The one in the middle is the older Luda class. She is slightly smaller with a length of two hundred and sixty meters and a mass of twenty two thousand tones. She carries eight missile tubes and two plasma cannons. I believe intelligence indicates the Chinese have at least fifty in commission. The second destroyer is their newer class – the Luyang class. She is two hundred and eighty meters long with a mass of twenty five thousand tones. Offensively, she carries ten missile tubes and two plasma cannons. Her armor is estimated to be a whole twenty centimeters thicker than the Luda class.”
“Very good Lieutenant Hanson and what would be your tactical conclusions?”
Without blinking Hanson immediately replied to his commander. “Well sir, with a broadside of four missiles even the smaller Luda class has enough firepower to blow us to pieces. If we come out of stealth we may force her to power up her drives and come after us. That way we’d be able to get a confirmed ID but we may not live long enough to report it back to anyone.”
“My thoughts exactly Lieutenant,” James said with a nod. “I think we’ll stay as we are. There’s no other reason why our friend should be where he is unless he plans to ambush anyone trying to survey the habitable planet.”
Hanson turned back to his terminal trying to hide a delighted grin.
James continued, “If he is Chinese then the Chinese haven’t reported their discovery of the Void to the UN yet. At least they hadn’t when we were last in port six months ago. Navigation, plot his estimated course, how close will he be to the third planet when we are making our approach?”
James nodded at the answer. The Chinese ship would be nowhere near the planet when they approached it. That would allow them to redirect their heat vents away from the Chinese ship as they passed behind the planet. With luck, the Chinese Captain would never know they were here.
“Ok, keep us on this trajectory until we round the fifth planet. We’ll make one pass on the third and then head back out of the mass shadow and one light hour beyond the shift limit. Then we’ll jump out and head to V17 and see what else the Chinese are up to. I have a feeling the Admiralty is going to be very interested in our report!”
Several Sub Lieutenants nodded in agreement and Hanson tried but failed not to break out into a smile again.
Chapter 5 – Riches
Before the introduction of alien tech into the Human Sphere, the economy in the First Interstellar Expansion Era revolved around four things; valstronium for ship construction, He3 for fueling the fusion reactors on ships, starbases and planetary surfaces, a vast array of rare elements discovered outside the Sol system and, finally, consumer goods. With over thirty-five habitable worlds colonized by 2450 there was an ever-g
rowing desire for all four resources.
-Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD
23rd November 2464. HMS Drake, the Void.
As Drake passed V2 all her passive sensors turned to focus on surveying the third planet. Once again Fisher was manning the sensor terminal after she had spent the last six hours off duty. James had given her permission to power up the active sensors for a limited scan of the planet. She was restricted to a brief scan of the equator for fear some radiation would seep around the planet and alert the Chinese destroyer.
As she looked up from her terminal, Second Lieutenant Gupta saw the same look she had seen in her eyes only hours ago when she had first reported the possibility of a dark matter bubble.
Glancing past Gupta she looked to the commander, “Sir, I’m not quite sure I can believe what I’m seeing.”
“Well please don’t leave us in suspense,” James replied.
“It appears that there are significant deposits of valstronium around the area of the equator we surveyed. Given what our passive sensors have also picked up, the computer is estimating that the pockets we know are there for sure, continue sporadically across the entire planet.”
Gupta looked back to the commander to take in his reaction. The British discovery of valstronium on their second colony was the main reason Britain had been able to keep up with the other major world powers in the space race, which had, in turn, lead Gupta’s family to immigrate to Britain. Before that discovery, almost two hundred years ago now, the only source of the metal had been from mining asteroids that orbited Sol and other stars. Typically only those with wide orbits contained the metal and even those were rare. Britain’s discovery had meant that they could build as many spaceships as they needed and still export some of the almost priceless valstronium. This success and the overbearing weight of the Indian caste system had led Gupta’s family to Britain in the hope of a brighter future for their offspring.
Gupta could hardly keep a grin from her face but as she watched the commander she controlled herself. As James read the details Fisher had sent to his display, his face didn’t move an inch. Scolding herself for wishing to be like her stuck up commander, Gupta turned back to her own terminal. The findings were indeed impressive. Since the founding of Britannia, the other space powers had discovered their own limited sources of valstronium. However, the sheer quantity of valstronium the sensors suggested were present on V2 would mean that the British would once again have a near monopoly, if they could exploit it.
James eventually broke the silence that had encompassed the bridge. “Very good Fisher, I see the Admiralty is indeed going to be pleased with our discovery. What else have you found?”
Surprised at the commander’s nonchalance over their discovery, Fisher had to look back at her console to recheck the other details. “The planet is 15% smaller than Earth. It is also closer to its sun so although the sun in this system omits less solar energy than Sol’s, the average temperature is 50C higher. I’m not sure any settlers are going to want to live out in the open around the equator but the north and south hemispheres are perfectly habitable. The atmosphere is also similar to Earth’s with a slightly elevated oxygen count. The land mass is largely made up of small islands although there is a sizeable continent in the south that would make a good initial base.”
“Interesting,” James replied, “I think we may want to suggest to the crew that they reinvest their prize money into this system. I can see V2 becoming the center of our expanding colonial empire for decades to come. Anything else of interest, how about plant and animal life?”
Gupta had to hide a snarl at the commander’s comments as Fisher consulted her console again. It was well known that Commander Somerville came from an exceedingly rich family. Despite his current difficulties, it was hard to imagine the commander needing to think about how to invest a measly one million credits. When Gupta’s family had come to Britain they had had no choice but to scrape a living from nothing. Her parents had worked two jobs each and spent their meager life’s savings to send her to the RSN Lunar Academy. Now, as a Second Lieutenant, she was able to begin paying them back out of her wages and to help send her younger siblings to university as well. She still held out hope of a command someday. That would allow her parents a level of luxury they could only dream of. Yet, Somerville’s promotion to commander had been a kick in the teeth and had left her father complaining to her over the datanet for weeks before Drake had left Earth’s orbit.
Gupta’s thoughts were broken as Fisher looked up from her console to answer her commander’s question, “We only got data from the active scans so I can’t tell you about the north and south hemispheres, just the equator. There seems to be abundant plant life although no sign of any sizeable animals, certainly no signs of intelligence.”
“That’s a relief,” James said with a half-smile. “We don’t need any more surprises; aliens would be just too much! Tactical, any sign of our Chinese friend?”
Now that Drake had passed the third planet, her heat vents were pointing away from the suspected position of the Chinese ship whilst all her passive sensors were aimed at where they estimated her to be.
Sub Lieutenant Becket who was now manning tactical took control of the main holo-display, replacing the rotating projection of V2 Fisher had up with the estimated plot of the Chinese ship. “If she hasn’t altered her approach speed or angle, based on the recon drone’s data we should expect her to be somewhere in this region, so far we haven’t picked anything up yet.”
Gupta sat forward in alarm. They had expected to pick up the Chinese ship on thermal scanners immediately after passing the planet. It made sense for the Chinese ship to be venting their waste heat towards the planet as that was the one place they could be reasonably sure no British ships were. Without waiting for Somerville’s permission Gupta reacted. “Re-orientate the thermal scanners. Do an expanding sweep from where we last picked up the Chinese ship. It is out there somewhere and we need to find her.”
Becket quickly turned back to the tactical console and her fingers began to fly over the controls. The main holo-display began to update itself, gradually expanding the view of the system out from the point they had expected to pick up the Chinese ship. Something caught Gupta’s eye. “There, sector thirty seven point four. Re-orientate the thermal scanners and focus in on that sector.”
Becket worked the tactical console again and this time the holo-displayed zoomed in and a number of data streams appeared beside the growing blip. As Gupta sat back in relief James took over, “Becket what are we looking at?”
“Sir, the heat signature is consistent with that from the recon drone. It doesn’t appear as if the Chinese ship has boosted up their reactors. From the wave length distortion it seems the ship is heading away from V2. They must have turned around as we approached the planet and are heading back out of the system. They are not following the vector they came in towards the planet but they are on a roughly parallel course.”
“Any chance they can detect our heat signature from their new position?” James queried.
“No Commander, our vents are still directed three hundred and fifty two degrees away from them. I’m realigning them to be the full three hundred and sixty now.”
The bridge sat in silence for another twenty minutes as the passive sensors remained focused on the Chinese ship. Once he was satisfied the Chinese didn’t intend any more course corrections James got up out of the command chair. “Lieutenant Gupta, you have the bridge, I’m going to retire to my quarters. Shannon, I want you to plot a series of micro jumps to V48 and V31. We’re going to jump in at the edge of the system and launch a spread of recon drones. Then plot us a course to V17. That’s the closest habitable plant to Chinese space; we need to see what’s going on there so we’re going to have a look for ourselves. We can then swing back and pick up the other recon drones. Call me when we are ready to begin our first jump.
Nodding Gupta stood and took the commander’s chair. Inwardly she
was already trying to control her anger. The commander was a glory hunter, of that she was sure! They had just made the greatest discovery in the history of the RSN. They should be high tailing it back to Earth to tell the Admiralty and let them sort out the political landmines. If there were more Chinese ships at V17 then Drake would be running a needless gauntlet. Clearly the Chinese intended to keep the Void a secret. This was a situation for the Admiralty. Yet Somerville wanted to go poking his nose into places he shouldn’t. To shake her thoughts she began to review the data on the planet and the Chinese ship.
Yet, forty five minutes later she was still struggling to control her anger. The planet certainly looked like the best find the British had yet made. V2 had the potential to fill the British government’s coffers for years to come. In time it would be developed into a major industrial center and then become the springboard for new waves of exploration and colonization out beyond the Void. Her other distraction, the Chinese destroyer, was clearly up to no good. Their small course corrections indicated that the destroyer was intent on patrolling the main line of approach from the Cambridge shift passage to V2. They wanted to catch any British ships that might happen upon the Void and head for V2. Still, despite these distractions, her thoughts had returned time and again to her Commander. With a groan she stood up from the command chair and headed out of the bridge. Her doubts would not leave her alone and, as much as she didn’t want to confront her immediate superior, Somerville wasn’t just toying with his own life.