by Dan Worth
‘But won’t they start to suspect something if you don’t arrest us?’
‘How can I arrest you if I don’t find anything?’
‘But you know about…’
Steven winked at her. ‘You’d be amazed what I don’t see when I try hard enough. They might send someone eventually, but until then I’ll play dumb.’
‘I don’t know. They’ve been pretty diligent so far in following the two of us.’
‘You think the Arkari are pressuring them?’
‘Yes.’
‘So do I.’
‘You know I always thought the Arkari were fairly benign and peace loving.’
‘Huh. You did, did you? Was that before or after you pissed them off?’
‘Hmm, it was before we found that log, definitely.’
‘The Arkari have been around a lot longer than we have. They didn’t survive for so long by being nice all the time, regardless of what they might have you believe.’
‘I suppose.’
‘The Arkari military is unusually independent, Katherine. Thankfully for the rest of their species they obey the elected government, but it doesn’t stop them acting on their own from time to time. When it comes down to it they can be just as brutal as anyone else. You ever hear of the One Day War?’
‘Not sure, it rings a bell.’
‘The K’Soth tried to invade Arkari space in 2190, before we’d contacted either of them. They assembled a fleet even bigger than the one they used against us, and they headed straight towards Keros. They were never heard from again. An hour after crossing the border they vanished, not even any distress signals.’
‘A whole fleet?’
‘Yep, no survivors that we know of. Plus, over the next few months a number of senior figures in the K’Soth military met untimely and mostly violent ends. I think they got the message.’
‘You think this is their work?’
‘I’d put money on it,’ Steven replied grimly as he re-holstered his weapon.
Chapter 10
The assembled captains filed out of the Mark Antony’s briefing room as Chen gathered her notes. The meeting had served as a getting-to-know-you session. She had had little more to add to their previous orders save for the specifics of their patrol routes, but she had been heartened to find that the other vessels under her command were captained by capable officers. She just hoped that she wasn’t going to have to send them all to their deaths in the near future.
She had left Ramirez in command on the bridge for now, so she returned to her quarters and dumped the data pad and sheaf of paper notes on her desk. The briefing had caused her to think again about possible tactics that she could use in the event of their deployment against the K’Soth. She had to ensure that they survived the engagement and an idea had been forming in her mind over the previous few days. She wanted to try it out in a simulation.
Chen accessed her desk terminal and called up files on the technical specifications of both Commonwealth and K’Soth ships. In particular, she was interested in their comparative manoeuvring capabilities. Commonwealth vessels were now undoubtedly superior to their K’Soth counterparts in most respects, but it was likely that they would be facing overwhelming numbers of opponents. She pondered the lists of statistics regarding the specifications of the various classes of vessels on both sides.
The ships under her command had all recently undergone refits, both to their weapons and to their drive systems, making them deadlier, faster and more manoeuvrable. She ran a model of an engagement between simulated Commonwealth and K’Soth vessels and she made a surprising discovery: her ships should be able to out-turn enemy vessels, even when orientated to bring all their primary weapons to bear at medium range. She now had the key to survival, or at least the possibility.
Space combat was fraught with problems. Exchange of fire between ships in motion over significant astronomical distances was simply not practical. Energy weapons, subject to the inverse square law, could not be constructed with sufficient power to be effective at such distances and over extreme distances, the speed of light presented another set of problems. Even though modern ships could detect one another through hyperspace and get an accurate indication of the present location of a target, the time taken for laser or particle beams travelling at the speed of light to cross great distances was still too great. The target ships could simply move out of the way of the incoming beam.
Projectile weapons had their own set of problems. Despite having an infinite range, they took even longer to travel from one point in a system to another. Hence it was impossible to hit a target moving in an unpredictable manner as it would have moved or changed course drastically by the time the projectile arrived. Fitting munitions with jump engines simply wasn’t practical for reasons of cost and size. Furthermore, unguided projectiles would be dragged off course by the gravitational influences of celestial bodies, and it was difficult to fit such small devices with sufficient power reserves to manoeuvre over such ranges. Over moderate distances, say a few hundred kilometres it was possible; shells and missiles could be accelerated to acceptable speeds or could be loaded with enough fuel to allow them to guide themselves towards a target in motion. However, to counter this threat ships were fitted with extensive defensive systems designed to destroy incoming warheads long before they reached their target. Such defences were difficult to overcome except via the use of a great number of munitions to swamp them with more targets than they could engage.
As a result of this dilemma, ship designers of various races had resorted to energy based weapons that could be used at ranges generally no greater than fifty kilometres, but which delivered a highly destructive punch at the speed of light. Ships generally mounted numerous rapid firing weapons for engaging smaller targets as well as larger guns capable of producing a sustained and powerful beam able to rapidly deplete an enemy’s shields and slice open its hull.
Navies also resorted to the use of smaller craft; squadrons of one or two pilot torpedo bombers and space superiority fighters lacked jump drives and were transported to the battle in larger carrier vessels. Since fighters did not fly in predictable patterns they had been shown to be more difficult for enemy defences to target and were large enough to shield, hence they were used to get in under the defensive barrages of enemy capital ships and disable said defences, as well as defending their own ships from similar attacks.
Traditionally this left a number of options open to a fleet commander: either they could close with the enemy and batter them at short range, or if they had fighters available they could utilise them to take down the turrets and defences of the enemy vessels before using projectile weapons to finish them off at long range or closing for the kill. The first tactic relied on numerical superiority in ships and guns, the second superiority in fighters and bombers. Chen would most probably have neither, but she thought she had found another way.
She would draw the enemy ships toward her little fleet before staging a retreat. Looking at the weapon capabilities of her ships and any likely opponents, she could see that the effective range of her ships’ weapons exceeded that of the majority of weapons on the K’Soth vessels by around ten kilometres. Furthermore, her vessels were now capable of accelerating faster in reverse than the K’Soth vessels could manage full ahead. If she could manage to maintain a distance of between twenty and thirty kilometres between her fleet and the enemy ships she could hit them with relative impunity. Timing would be everything. She modelled a possible engagement. The computer provided a random selection of K’Soth ships, and she noticed a flaw. The K’Soth did have one class of vessel that was capable of firing at greater ranges than her own, and it was one she was likely to face.
K’Soth War Temples were gigantic craft which served as carriers, command ships, and fire support platforms. Whilst they were fitted with a large number of outdated weapon turrets, their primary weapon consisted of a gigantic plasma cannon. The weapon drew superheated plasma from the ship’s reactors and m
agnetically accelerated it along the kilometre length of the barrel at close to the speed of light. The weapon was fixed along the vessel’s centreline and could only be aimed by manoeuvring the ship to point at the target and it could only be fired infrequently to avoid depleting the ship’s reactors of energy. However its effects were lethal to any vessel caught by the impact. The Mark Antony would be unlikely to survive a direct hit by such a weapon. They would have to stay well out of the firing line.
Chen constructed a new model, her fleet versus a K’Soth War Temple. In order to keep the enemy ship within range of their guns, stay out of range of its turrets, and maintain a rate of turn sufficient to prevent the plasma cannon being brought to bear, it would be necessary to maintain a distance of between twenty and twenty-five kilometres. In addition, the fleet would have to be arranged into a sufficiently small formation to stay out of the fire arc. Chen’s task would be even more difficult. The area in which they could manoeuvre was ridiculously small, moving in such a tight formation in battle presented its own risks, and if they were successfully outflanked before the relief force arrived it would all be over.
She needed another plan to fall back on, but this whole exercise was proving intensely frustrating. How could she properly plan ahead if she didn’t even know what system they would be operating in? There were hundreds of systems within the DMZ. She couldn’t plan to fight within each and every one. Still, at least what she had so far was a start. She was sure she could build upon it once she knew where they were headed.
The view out of her cabin window showed the lazily spinning metallic face of New Colorado some distance away, surrounded by the winking lights and glinting metal of ships. Close by, the view was occupied by the Tipu Sultan, a tactical missile frigate under her command. She could see the ship’s name on its grey, wedge-shaped nose, as well the sword emblazoned in the uppermost of the two missile batteries that occupied the aft gun decks of the vessel. Chen glanced at her watch; it was time they were getting underway. She should return to the bridge.
As part of the cover for their deployment, Chen had been instructed to organise patrols of several nearby systems to hunt for ‘smugglers.’ To achieve this she had split her small fleet into several components; the two missile frigates and the standard frigate, the Crazy Horse, would patrol the Klondike system’s asteroid belt. The four destroyers, however, would spread out through the local systems and would each be accompanied by an anti-fighter cruiser. Chen had plotted courses for each of the destroyers to cover as much of the surrounding sphere of space as possible. The course she had chosen for the Mark Antony would take them closest to the border than any of the others.
Chen made her way onto the bridge and was met by Ramirez, who shot her a broad grin as he relinquished command to her. She headed for her chair and settled into it, then reached for her HUD monocle. Before she could attach it Ensign Andrews spoke.
‘Captain we are being hailed by another vessel, it’s a small shuttlecraft from New Colorado.’
‘Put them through.’
‘Yes Captain.’
Chen fitted her HUD monocle and its bright display came into focus in front of her. The communications window activated and showed a fat, rather sweaty looking man in a rumpled suit. He was sitting in the shuttle’s cramped cockpit next a bald black man who appeared to be piloting the vessel. The first man spoke.
‘Good afternoon Captain, I’m Agent Rochenko from Commonwealth Intelligence. Before you leave I wonder if my colleague, Agent Pearson, and I might come aboard. We have something to ask of you.’
‘Certainly, but can we not discuss it over this channel?’
‘I’d prefer not to. It’s a security matter pertaining to an ongoing investigation.’
‘I’m not in trouble am I?’ said Chen dryly.
Agent Rochenko laughed hoarsely.
‘No. No not at all.’
‘Very well, permission to dock is granted. I’ll speak to you both in my ready room in a few minutes, Chen out.’ She switched the channel off and gave instructions to her crew. ‘Lieutenant O’Rourke please assist these gentlemen in docking with us. Commander, I’d appreciate it if you’d meet them both at the docking port and lead them up here. Ensign Andrews, please inform New Colorado traffic control that we are delaying our departure by thirty minutes.’
Chen left her chair and went to her ready room to await the two agents. With all the recent secrecy she was starting to become paranoid and she wondered if perhaps she really was the focus of their attention. After a few moments Ramirez arrived with agents Rochenko and Pearson in tow.
‘Gentlemen, welcome aboard,’ she said and shook them by the hand, eyeing the two men warily.
‘Thank you Captain,’ said Rochenko.
‘Now, what can I do for you? Please, have a seat.’ She gestured towards the two chairs in front of her desk.
‘Captain with all due respect it may be better, for security reasons, if the Commander here were to leave us,’ said Pearson.
‘Agent… ah… Pearson, Commander Ramirez is my second in command and I trust him implicitly. If you have something to say to me you can say it in front of him,’ Chen replied firmly.
‘Very well. We understand that the route you posted for your forthcoming patrol will take you northwards into the Kiev system.’
‘Yes that’s right. It’s our first port of call.’
‘We’d appreciate it if you could look out for a particular ship for us. It’s piloted by a man we had intended to question, but I have to admit that we’ve lost him.’
‘How embarrassing.’
‘Quite.’
‘Space is very big you know. Trying to find a single ship that doesn’t want to be found is virtually impossible. Your man could be light years away by now. How long has he been missing?’
‘Three days. He docked at the Rostov Harbour facility in Kiev where he spent several days buying and loading cargo. He then logged his intended destination as Fort Roskilde in the Midgard system, ten light years distant.’
‘That’s also on our itinerary.’
‘I know, and this is why we came to you. Anyway, our man never arrived in Midgard, nor in any of the other surrounding systems. As you can imagine this poses us something of a problem, so if you could keep an eye out for him it would be a great help.’
‘Well I can’t promise anything. I’ll need some details to go on?’
‘His name’s Hideo Minaba.’ said Rochenko. ‘He’s a freelance trader who generally operates in this area. His ship’s called the Nine Lives, a converted Bison class transport with an up-rated power plant, shields and weapons. I have all the necessary details here; I’ll just download them to your desk terminal.’ Rochenko produced a data pad and fiddled with it briefly, the file appeared on Chen’s desk screen. She glanced at it.
‘Thank you. So, could you tell me what this Captain Minaba is wanted for?’
‘Yes of course. He’s not actually accused of anything per se, but he ferried an archaeologist named Katherine O’Reilly, whom we’re currently investigating, to the Fulan system. She is in possession of stolen documents belonging to the Arkari military and we believe…’ Rochenko paused as if for dramatic effect. ‘We believe that there is a distinct possibility that she may be trying to pass them on to the K’Soth. Naturally we’d like to talk to anyone who’s been in prolonged contact with her recently, except that Minaba seems to have given us the slip.’
‘Any idea why?’
‘We think he must have realised that he was under a degree of surveillance in Rostov Harbour. Traders spook easily; theirs is a risky business, especially in the least well patrolled systems. It probably explains why he undertook his disappearing act.’
‘Well this certainly falls well within our current mission parameters Agent Rochenko. We’re here to guard against the K’Soth and their fifth columnists and smugglers. I’ll let you know immediately if we find anything, and in the meantime I wish you luck in hunting down your wayward academic.
’
‘Thank you Captain, your assistance is much appreciated.’
‘I expect you’ll be wanting to get underway now?’ said Pearson. Chen nodded. ‘Well we shan’t detain you any longer, good day Captain. Commander.’ He nodded to Chen and Ramirez. The two men got up and left, Ramirez went with them escort back to their shuttle. Chen breathed a sigh of relief, grateful that her previous paranoia had been unjustified.
She returned to the bridge and gave the order for the cruiser Stillwell to fall into formation with the Mark Antony and for the other ships to depart along their assigned patrol routes. She disseminated the description of the Nine Lives to the other captains too, on the off chance that they might encounter it. This accomplished, she ordered Ensign Goldstein at the helm to depart New Colorado and head for Rostov Harbour in Kiev, as Ramirez returned to the bridge and settled into his place at her side.
The ships formed an impressive convoy as they filed out of New Colorado’s sphere of port jurisdiction, the destroyers dwarfing all but the largest of civilian craft. Once clear of traffic control the ships swung in pairs to face their appointed destinations before jumping out. Chen felt a swell of pride at the sheer military power available at her command; if anyone was doing anything illegal in this part of space, they were about to receive one hell of a nasty surprise.
The Mark Antony and the Stillwell emerged from their jump eighty kilometres away from Rostov Harbour. The station was visible as a large cylinder that glinted ruddily by the light of the system’s red dwarf star as it spun slowly in orbit about the brown gas giant Petrov. A few battered looking freighters hung in stationary orbits about the station and there didn’t seem to be much going on. Sensor sweeps revealed little activity in the wider system save for a couple of bulk haulers rising from the agricultural colonies on Petrov’s largest moon. Chen ordered the helm to approach the station and instructed comms to put her through to its commander. The image of a jovial, grey bearded man appeared in front of her and introduced himself as Commander Lyakhov