Jethro 3: No Place Like Home

by Chris Hechtl

  “He is outliving his usefulness,” Jarvis reminded him. “And he can expose a lot,” he warned.

  Baker winced. He didn't like where this was going, not at all. He'd been in with Walker's people from the ground, he knew the risks, but for a time the credits had been good. Now he was in too deep, he knew it. He couldn't find a way to pull himself out, and he knew if he looked like anything other than the good spy he'd be a dead man. Case in point.

  “I think, yes, let's see if we can kill two birds with one stone. Getting Nameli and the dear Commander on the same shuttle should decapitate their leadership quite nicely. See to it,” he said, nodding to Jarvis and then to Baker.

  Baker nodded. After all, it was the only response he could do.

  ---( | ) --- ( | )---

  The two additional orbital forts had an ETA of one week to reach the B101a1 jump point. Orbital weapons platforms were being moved as well. Another four fortresses were under construction in the Yard with plans to move them to the jump point when they were completed. Half the jump point defenses from the other jump points were in the process of being transferred to cover their rear. Renee felt a bit of relief over that, but also some concern and doubt that it may not be enough.

  The newly restored Arboth class destroyer Damocles was on station at the jump point as the largest ship there. Lieutenant Commander Harris was her new Captain, having finally convinced Commander Logan to let him have a larger hot seat. Renee had sent him a congratulatory E-mail when they had arrived in the system.

  When they arrived near the jump point Damocles hailed them. “What now?” Shelby asked. “What does he want?”

  “Damocles to Firefly. Good sailing and good hunting. I wish we were going with you,” Harris said from the overhead.

  “Oh.”

  “Thank you Damocles, we wish you were as well. Keep the fires burning; we'll be back soon enough.”

  “Do us a favor, kick some pirate ass. But leave some for the rest of us,” Harris replied.

  “I make no promises,” Renee replied with a feral grin. “Firefly out.”

  “Sour grapes?” Shelby asked, cocking her head as she crossed her arms and contemplated her Captain.

  Renee snorted. She knew what Harris was thinking and feeling. She couldn't blame the man. “Envy and a bit of jealousy. He's missed out on a lot.”

  “True,” Shelby replied. Harris was an old friend of hers. She'd attended his gaming group for years as a teen, more to keep her dad happy than an interest in the boys. Sure, she did freely admit to an interest in the simulators and war games they had played, and especially in beating the guys who didn't have a clue on how to run a ship on a semi-regular basis. But she had kept it strictly friendship only, even with Harris who'd been the top dog of the club and had come on to her regularly.

  Renee snorted. “Not my fault he insisted on taking a ship without a functional hyperdrive,” Renee said, interrupting her XO's woolgathering.

  “Yeah, something needs to be done there though,” Shelby replied thoughtfully. “I mean, dad can't pull a hyperdrive from thin air but...”

  “I don't think cobbling one from a civilian craft like the Horathians do would be any better. Though we might try it,” Firefly said, putting his two credits worth into the conversation.

  “That...I don't know about that. I for one am not thrilled about trusting civilian crap. At least not something ancient and not really built for a warship,” Shelby said.

  Renee eyed her exec with an amused look and then shook her head when Shelby noticed her. “You know, some of us had to rely on that civilian crap in the past,” the Captain said with just a trace of a wicked teasing tone in her voice.

  Shelby blushed slightly. “Sorry skipper.”

  “Oh, don't be. I don't blame you. Now that I've seen the other side, there is no going back. I'm spoiled.”

  “Not spoiled ma'am, just properly cared for. As a lady of your touring stature deserves,” Shelby said, leaning closer to Renee. Renee chuckled with her as they entered the wardroom and strategy meeting.

  “So, do we have anything more? Any more intel teased out?” The Captain asked as she took her seat. Shelby snorted and sat next to her, hands in front of her on the table. The intelligence shop had downloaded a rather sparse report on the attack. It was filled with holes and redacted paragraphs, quite maddening. Really what it boiled down to was that they had secondary proof that there really was a Horathian attack imminent, but not the timing involved or any really useful information.

  And of course the intel people had waxed poetic with qualifiers and hearsay on it, page after page of butt covering that was disgusting.

  “Nothing new or concrete,” Purple Thorn replied. She waved a hand to her Veraxin JTO. The Veraxin passed tablets to each of the senior officers. “I'd like your agreement on a few things though. We're having some discussion and disagreement on our strategy. Since we're a few hours from jump, it behooves us to get the details right.”

  “Right from the start,” Shelby echoed with a nod. “Gotcha.”

  “What's the problem?” Renee asked with a frown.

  “The entire plan is insane,” Firefly responded. Firefly acted as devil's advocate, shooting down the suicidal arrogance of their plan.

  “Charging in half cocked is arrogant and just asking for trouble, I get it. Fine, so what do we do about it?” Renee asked.

  “I wouldn't consider this mission at all. But since we're going anyway, I strongly suggest caution should be a major factor in our thinking. We're going to be out on a limb as humans like to say. Let's not saw it off behind us.”

  “Cute.”

  “I suggest we come in on a vector away from a straight line course to allow us to reverse course and return to the jump point if necessary skipper,” Janice said. “That would leave some options open for us,” she said.

  “This is supposed to be a hit and hype mission. Jump in, hit anything smaller than us and then run from anything we can't fight.”

  “If there is anything there. The pirates have consistently used smaller forces so far. Nothing larger than a tin can,” Purple Thorn said.

  Renee nodded.

  “Yes, but don't repeat Antigua. We were lucky once. We can't count on that again.”

  Renee shrugged. “If it worked once...”

  “Just because we haven't encountered anything larger than a destroyer doesn't mean we aren't about to Captain, Lieutenant,” Firefly said, looking at both officers. Renee spread her hands as if to concede the point. “It is better to come in cautious and assess the situation rather than fat, dumb and happy right into their engagement zone,” Commander Firefly said.

  “Are you calling me fat?” Renee demanded, mock affronted. She looked at the AI but out of the corner of her eye she could see her resident tac witch look thoughtful. That got her thinking as well. Perhaps the AI wasn't too far off about the arrogance of certain people, herself included? She'd thought she had the biggest and best ship. But the Admiral had tried to drill into her, it wasn't just the size of the ship, it was how you used it. And if one of those bastards rammed her... she frowned thoughtfully, not liking that train of thought.

  “No, Captain, I am using a Terran colloquialism. My apologies. I recognize your attempt at deflection though,” the AI said. Renee snorted. “Continuing on...the point still stands, we need to be cautious. According to our intel, Admiral Rico has several cruisers, and his flagship is the Queen Adrienne. We still do not have a copy of the Horathian war book so we don't know all their ships or types, but from what intel we have gathered, she is large, that much we know. A heavy cruiser like us or possibly even larger. Possibly a Battle cruiser.”

  Renee frowned thoughtfully. The AI had a point. Slowly she nodded. “So it pays to be cautious. Gotcha. We'll go with plan B, short jump. Okay fine, we'll say, jump one million kilometers short of the jump zone in Beta 101a1. Transmit that change to command,” she said, looking at the communication's officer. “That and any other changes we come up
with here when we're finished. That way they know what we're planning.” The communications officer nodded and looked down to tap a memo into his board.

  “Hopefully, they don't get a last minute chance of cold feet,” the elf tactical officer replied.

  Shelby held up a restraining hand. “Dad, excuse me, Commander Logan isn't one to second guess himself too often. Once he commits, he's in it to win it. He'll understand. And I know he'll approve of the caution,” Shelby said with a nod.

  “Good to know,” Purple Thorn said. “And for the record, I am all for caution. We can use that to our advantage, coming in under stealth if possible...” she said looking expectantly at her Captain.

  Renee nodded, smiling wolfishly. “I'd thought of the same.”

  “But we need to come in on a vector that allows us to come about and jump out if the area is too dangerous to engage,” Janice said. The others turned to her. “That way we'll also be coming in from a divergent vector that they won't expect, one not on a straight reciprocal of the jump to Pyrax.”

  “You can alter our exit vector to allow this?” Renee asked. The Navigator nodded.

  “All right then, here's what we'll do...”

  ---( | ) --- ( | )---

  “Hyperdrive charging. Ninety percent and climbing. Three minutes to maximum charge.”

  “Captain, incoming transmission,” the communications rating said, looking up from his station. He turned to his Captain.

  “What now?” Renee asked, frowning at her XO.

  “Think he's gotten cold feet?” Shelby asked.

  “Or something else came up.”

  “Another minute and we wouldn't be able to hear it over the drive charging. Should we lose it, ma'am?” the rating asked.

  Renee grimaced, glancing at the AI. She shook her head slowly. “No, out with it.”

  “On speaker,” the communications rating said, hand to one ear.

  “This is Commander Horatio Logan to the crew of Firefly. Mission is a go. Give them hell Fireflies, and come home safe.”

  “Thank you. sir,” Renee replied, instinctively looking up. “We will.”

  “Safe sailing Firefly. Good hunting,” Horatio said and then cut the circuit.

  “Hyperdrive charged.”

  “Course plotted. Waiting on your order, ma'am,” Janice said.

  Renee nodded, sitting straight, tugging on the hem of her jacket. “The order is given Janice, jump.”

  ACT II

  Chapter 11

  Twenty-five days later, Firefly dropped out of hyper one point four million kilometers outside the normal jump point in B101a1 space, on the starboard side of the point with a course in a diagonal perpendicular to normal entry. She had made the fourteen point five parsec journey in record time in Delta band.

  “Three, two, one, we have emergence! Break out!”

  “Helm, proceed with planned evasive maneuver. Guns, get us into stealth as soon as we can.”

  “Hyperdrive recharging.”

  “We're slow,” Janice said.

  “Engineering, what gives?”

  “Balancing the load for main power when it is divided between moving, stealth, our shields, and charging the hyperdrive isn't easy or perfect, Captain,” the rating said. “Pick one.”

  “Our energy discharge should be picked up in seconds. We're getting some return now as it dissipates in our wake.”

  “Anything?”

  “Some neutrino sources clustered nearby. Also, what appears to be a battle,” the rating in CIC reported.

  “A battle?”

  “It seems we're late for the party,” Firefly noted.

  “Some party,” the tactical officer said. She highlighted what looked like destroyed ships. “Someone's having a very bad day,” she said.

  “Let's go see if we can make it worse for the Horathians then,” Renee said, smiling wolfishly. “Helm, get with tactical, I want a course at our best speed. CIC, get on that report.”

  “Working on it, ma'am. Plot is updating as we get returns. We're slugging you the raw data and processing it as we go. There is a lot though. It is a mess out there.”

  “I see that,” the Captain said dryly. “I wonder who's on whose side?”

  “Neutrino report. Updated plot, ma'am,” the CIC rating said, voice going cool and a bit frightened. The Captain frowned in concern as she noted a ship, from the mass readings, a large ship on the plot.

  “She's a Newmann class Battlecruiser skipper. Most likely the Queen Adrienne that was reportedly the flagship here.”

  “Let's not jump to any conclusions,” the Captain said.

  “Captain, we have a course plotted. Two of them, one back to the jump point, another will curve up under the force guarding the point. That will allow us to steer clear and pin them against the point if need be,” the elf reported, looking up from her station. “From there it keeps our options open.”

  As she watched the plot it changed as icons solidified and readings were reported. Some were still jumping around, a few flickered red with warning, but she nodded. Most of the force nearby were civilian ships. They were easy meat. If they fled into the jump point and jumped, they'd end up in Pyrax. If they didn't they could split up. Firefly and her fighters could chase only so many, in theory one or more might escape. But first she had to get a handle on what else was going on.

  “Captain, there is a ship attacking the Battlecruiser. From her readings she's far smaller, most likely a tin can of some sort. Visual and lidar are still out though.”

  “And you know she's attacking how?” The Captain asked.

  “We're getting reports of weapons fire. Captain, I recommend launching the recon drones we have on board as well as our fighters.”

  “Launch one recon drone,” Renee said, nodding. “Program it on a divergent course. Make certain we can pick it up later or she'll self destruct if we leave her behind.”

  “One thing, if they are in the midd7le of a battle the focus is going to be there, not on us. We've got a small window to do something here,” Shelby said. “And it's closing.”

  “If we're lucky they will assume we're a freighter who jumped short. That should buy us some time,” Firefly said. The ship had mimicked the emergence of a freighter for that very reason. “Whatever is going on, it is serving as an excellent diversion.”

  “Hyperdrive still charging. Up to 25 percent.”

  “Divert power from the hyperdrive to the sublight drives and stealth fields. We need to see what is going on here. If I'm right we're the right kind of gate crasher for this party. If we time it right.”

  “Aye aye, ma'am.”

  “Captain, we're getting some light ion trails now that emergence is clearing. From the look of it, someone has been throwing a lot of missiles around in the past hour or so.”

  “Interesting,” the Captain said. “That would explain the damaged or destroyed ships?”

  “Some of them ma'am, but not all. Some are adrift.”

  “Say that again?”

  “They are adrift, ma'am. No missiles close to them, no sign of external damage. They are just...dead.”

  “I'm wondering why,” Janice asked, voicing her concern. “A new weapon?”

  “Force beam?”

  “Possible, but not likely. To have gotten them all while they were together? I don't remember a force beam with that sort of beam width. I'd think it wouldn't be possible. And an EMP wouldn't do it, not if the ships had their shields up. Any other ideas?”

  “I have one. A computer virus,” the ship AI said. “A cyber attack.”

  Renee blinked as she looked at the AI avatar. She turned to her XO and then her tactical officer. Each nodded. “Sounds plausible,” Renee said.

  “Captain, many of the ships that are dead are in the first force, the one guarding the gate. We've identified it as Tango one. Tango two is identified as the largest warship. Tango three are the wounded ships, the ones drifting near the cluster of ion traces. Tango four is a Clydesdale we've iden
tified. It crosses paths with the ion stream. She's adrift, most likely a derelict. She's pretty battered; we're seeing some nasty rips in her. We're downgrading her threat level in appreciation of that.”

  “Interesting,” the skipper said, tenting her fingers together.

  “We've identified back scatter along that plot as belonging to missile pods, ma'am. That may explain the missiles. They hammered what looks like a couple of cruisers, some tin cans, and some other ships we can't identify in the wreckage. Some of it is plasma.”

  Renee frowned but the nodded. “Even more interesting. Continue.”

  “All others have been updated on your plot,” the CIC rating said.

  “I see that,” the Captain said, pursing her lips. “The recon drone?”

  The elf checked her station and then looked up. “She's cleared our wedge and is on her way out. I've programmed her to head into the battle.”

  “Good. We need answers. And fast.”

  “We need to know whose side we're on,” Shelby said.

  Renee nodded. “I hate not knowing who to shoot at.”

  ---( | ) --- ( | )---

  “Captain, we're receiving a signal. A sitrep, it's garbled and short. Processing now,” Firefly said. They had transited the fourteen point five parsec journey in Delta band in just shy of twenty-five days. Their original plan had been to jump short of the jump point, drop into stealth, assess the situation using their passive sensors, and then either kick up a hornet's nest by picking off anything in range as they turned and made a run for it or went in deeper.

  It had seemed arrogant and suicidal to jump in like they had planned, Commander Firefly had argued briefly against the mission parameters. The Captain had argued that to date the Horathians hadn't fielded anything larger than a destroyer group. Apparently that was no longer the case.

  The plan had changed the instant the sensors had reported the ongoing battle. The Captain had muttered something to the effect of “no plan survives contact with the enemy” and then had elected to wade in, dropping their stealth after they processed the tactical plot. She had picked up speed to aid the unknown destroyer fighting the hopeless battle against the battle cruiser. It seemed suicidal. There was no way a destroyer should have been able to fight a Battlecruiser, but they were doing it anyway.