"Ancient artifacts. About ten years ago, an archeological expedition unearthed evidence that an advanced culture existed on Mawcett some twenty-thousand years ago. That's about the time Earth's last Great Ice Age peaked and began to decline. So far, it's the oldest evidence of an advanced civilization uncovered in this galaxy. The planet's entire population appears to have died out while our Paleolithic ancestors on Earth were still gathering nuts and berries in forests, chasing down small animals for meat, and painting crude pictures on cave walls. Fearful of having the ship fall victim to the Raiders, the scientists on Mawcett have held off shipping any artifacts, but this past year they decided they couldn't wait any longer. Their new fear is that the planet itself will be assaulted and the warehouses looted as the collection grows. So they contracted with Peabody for protection services and prepared everything so far unearthed, for shipment. The date and route are supposed to be the most closely guarded secrets in the universe, but it appears that the Raiders have learned that information; probably from an inside source. The Raiders reportedly pay handsomely for information like this, and I imagine that someone, maybe several someones, at Peabody or the Mawcett Archeological Expedition Headquarters have earned enough to retire. I'd put my money on an informant inside Peabody because while MAE may have the date of shipment, only Peabody should know the exact route."
"I take it that the artifacts are valuable?"
"Extremely. Some private collectors would be willing to give their own children to own some of these old— relics. The entire shipment has been valued at twenty-eight trillion credits."
Jenetta's eyebrows rose in surprise. "That's a lot of incentive, sir."
"It's enough for the Raiders to pull out all the stops and attack with an overwhelming force."
"But surely the Raiders wouldn't be able to sell the artifacts as genuine?"
"There are always collectors willing to ignore the fact that the object they desire above all else is stolen merchandise. But there's another avenue as well. The shipment is insured by a large pool of insurance companies, and if the Raiders don't wish to spend decades searching out unscrupulous collectors, they can always sell the stolen artifacts back to the insurance providers. Insurance companies will normally pay a ten-percent finder's fee, no questions asked, for the recovery of insured goods. That's almost three trillion credits, if the Raiders take the quick route. They could build and equip several new hidden asteroid bases with that much available cash."
Jenetta grimaced at the thought. "How many Space Command vessels are included in the escort?"
"None."
Jenetta couldn't believe her ears. "None, sir?"
"Peabody flatly refused to tell us when the shipment was to leave Mawcett because they feared a security leak in Space Command. I suppose that's understandable, given the culpability of certain Space Command officers involved with the Raider theft of the two battleships. We naturally couldn't leave ships waiting over Mawcett indefinitely, so no ships were assigned. We weren't even aware that the convoy had left orbit until two days ago. It's been sitting over the planet for more than six months."
"So now you know that the convoy is under way. And I take it that Commander Pretorious has told you the route and where the ambush will occur."
"Yes, and we can calculate approximately when they'll reach the interception point. We've stationed a small science vessel near the edge of an uninhabited solar system along the convoy's expected course. They've deployed numerous small satellites to give them extended DeTect capability across the projected path. If a convoy passes within four billion kilometers of any satellite, the vessel will be alerted and they'll notify us of the exact course and time of passage. We'll then have verification of the timetable."
"I assume that next you're going to tell me that we're altering course to intercept."
"Not until twenty-one days from now. We want everyone to believe that our only destination is Earth. The Raiders have spies and ‘watchers' everywhere. We'll probably be watched for days, until they believe that we're proceeding according to your former orders. We don't believe for a second that they have anything that can keep up with us, but we feel confident that small spotter ships posted along the normal space lanes are watching for our passage. Fortunately for us, the space lanes between Higgins and Earth pass within five light years of the expected ambush point."
"One battleship isn't going to make much of a difference if the convoy is attacked by double the number of warships scheduled to leave the Raider-One space port."
"We're not the only one altering course to intercept. The Chiron will be coming with us, for one, and a number of other ships have received orders to proceed to Earth, ostensibly to participate in the launching ceremonies of the Prometheus and Chiron. They'll all be altering course in time to intercept the convoy at the ambush point, but not before all the Raider ‘watchers' believe that Earth is the real destination. The crews won't be told until we're almost ready to go into battle, to eliminate the risk of messages home revealing the mission, and the information about our role isn't to go beyond this room until we hold a briefing for officers a couple of days before the expected attack."
"Why even tell me before we need to change course?"
"Three reasons. One, you're Acting First Officer. As such you need to know because you're automatically in command should something happen to the captain. Two, you'll have to get your people up to speed on the weapon systems on this ship. I know that regular weapons training is SOP, but knowing that we're going into this type of battle means that you should devote extra time to it, without alerting the crew to the upcoming action. And three, you deserve it because it all traces back to you. Without the prisoner and computer files that you brought back, we wouldn't have this opportunity."
"Opportunity, sir? As I see it, we're about to fly into a major engagement, against overwhelming odds, with a crew complement smaller than that normally found even on a light destroyer."
"That's why I brought you some help, but they aren't to be included in weapons practice until after we alter course. Each is already an accomplished weapons specialist, on temporary loan from the ships assigned to protect Higgins, or from my own staff on the station. The Chiron received an equal number of ‘experienced' temporary personnel, in the form of passengers. I use the term opportunity because it's the first time we've had a chance to surprise the Raiders by being somewhere, in force, where they don't expect us to be."
"How long before we reach the ambush point?"
"Twenty-five days."
"Will we be ready?" Gavin asked Jenetta.
"We'll be ready, sir."
Commander Kanes nodded.
"That's all, Commander," Gavin said to Jenetta.
"Aye, sir."
Jenetta stood and left the briefing room. Walking to the first officer's chair on the bridge, she climbed up and relaxed. Although she appeared to be idly watching the front viewscreen, she was actually deep in thought. Her mind was filled with the details of establishing an accelerated weapons training schedule and the excuses that she'd give when her officers asked why they were devoting so much extra time to the task.
* * *
If being the individual mainly responsible for discovering and rectifying the mistakes and shortcomings of everyone on board, and then required to make recommendations for the appropriate level of discipline to be administered following a Captain's Mast in cases of negligence or indolence hadn't already made her the most detested person on the ship, Jenetta felt that the actions she took the next day would surely qualify her for the distinction. Working with her officers, each crewman aboard the ship, including those brought aboard by Captain Kanes, was assigned a specific post in the event of a call to general quarters. At various times over the next couple of days, usually in the middle of the night, unscheduled drills were conducted. The central computer polled everyone's CT or ID chip repeatedly during the drill to determine how long it took them to reach their assigned post. The drills continued
until every officer and crewman could quickly reach their post, even when awakened from a sound sleep. Jenetta temporarily disengaged the Captain's CT and the alert devices in his quarters just before each drill to ensure that he wasn't disturbed, but no one else on board was exempted from the clamorous cacophony.
With a CT and ID volume level practically guaranteed to ‘rouse the dead,' no one could manage to sleep through an alert. Although the repeated drills, especially those conducted in the dead of night to the accompaniment of loud curses and oaths, didn't endear the acting XO with the crew, at least everyone understood their necessity. Once she was satisfied with the response, Jenetta reduced the unannounced alert drills to just once per week.
During the same period, weapons practice intensified significantly, and the dozen fire control centers located along the center axis of the ship were rarely empty. Like the bridge itself, and the Auxiliary Command & Control center, each of the weapon centers is protected by massive bulkheads of tritanium armor and additional radiation shielding, and compartmentalized to protect crewmen in the event that surrounding areas are breached.
The ship's weapon systems include such realistic simulation programs that it's impossible to tell them from real combat, except that the lasers never fire real bursts, and torpedoes never leave the ship. The number of available fire control stations, combined with the limited crew size and pending engagement, made it both practical and necessary to train all crew members, even mess attendants and stores clerks, in the use of the phased array lasers and torpedo guidance consoles. Each laser weapon team consisted of one experienced gunner and one trainee. The experienced man actually pinpointed the target and fired the weapon, while the new man was busy searching for the next target. In torpedo guidance, the specialist continuously ‘flew' the assigned torpedo to the target using video telemetry with the torpedo, once a tactical officer on the bridge had identified the target and launched the weapon.
Jenetta spent as much time as possible in the fire control centers, giving tips to the new gunners and guidance specialists, and encouraging them to keep working to improve their skills. The simulations actually came to be treated like recreational video games, with betting involved as the days wore on. Jenetta was aware of the gambling but looked the other way and told her officers to do the same, as long as the betting didn't appear in the open. The gambling increased the incentive of each gunner and specialist to improve. Given the lack of qualified personnel Jenetta would use every edge available.
Other than the drills and weapons practice, things did finally settle into a quiet routine. The workload that Jenetta had initially found heaped on her shoulders eventually filtered down through her officers and settled onto the shoulders of the chief petty officers, where it belonged all along. Any noncom, and any officer willing to admit the truth, will tell you who really keeps the ships and bases operating. Jenetta was able to spend time catching up on the history of the past eleven years and begin her study of the Nordakian culture. Interestingly, she kept running into Commander Kanes when she wasn't on the bridge. He consistently dropped into the officer's mess right after she arrived, or was working out in the gym each day when she was able to schedule time. He would always engage her in conversation and try to get her to talk about herself. Jenetta didn't know if that was just his normal personality, an adopted practice that he couldn't turn off, or if he was trying to learn something in particular.
The absence of first and third officers made proper coverage of bridge watches difficult, so from her second day aboard ship the Captain had approved Jenetta's request to appoint Lieutenant Kerrey as Acting Second Officer. He was assigned to third watch and Jenetta was able to get enough sleep. Since the senior bridge officers' quarters were all located on the bridge deck, she could be on the bridge in less than two minutes if a problem developed.
* * *
On the twenty-first day out of Higgins Space Port, Jenetta ordered a radical course change. The astrogator looked at her questioningly but she didn't offer any further information. Finally, he asked, "How long do we maintain this course, Commander?"
"Until the Captain or I tell you otherwise, Lieutenant," she said quietly. "And you're not to mention this change of course to anyone. Do you understand, Lieutenant? Not anyone."
"Aye, ma'am, not anyone."
Jenetta also went to the helmsman and gave the same sotto voce instructions about secrecy. He too offered a quizzical look, but verified that he understood.
Just after the course change, the captain ordered a ban on all outbound com traffic, except for military communications from himself or Lt. Commander Carver.
* * *
On the twenty-fifth day out of Vinnia, all Space Command officers with the rank of lieutenant and above, were ordered to the ship's largest conference room. During a presentation by Captain Gavin, they were informed of the pending action. They already understood that something major was in the works because of the communications blackout.
"We know a little about how these Raiders operate," Gavin said as the conference began. "They have an incredible intelligence network, and when they know the flight path of a freighter, they position a few cargo containers filled with electronics that can generate a plane of false contact information for tens of thousands of kilometers across the path. Collision avoidance systems sense the electronic ‘debris field' and shut down the ship's Light Speed drive. While the freighter's bridge crew looks for a clear path through or around the nonexistent debris, the Raiders strike. They try to incapacitate the freighter's temporal field generator so it can't escape into FTL and then demand its surrender. If the freighter captain refuses to capitulate, they destroy the main ship, killing everyone on board, although there are sometimes survivors in airtight sections.
"In the case of escort vessels, they don't even ask for surrender; they just attack to keep them from putting up a fight, and then repair them later, if economically feasible, and place them in service for themselves. They do a pretty good job of cleaning up afterwards, so we only know of their tactics because Commander Carver was able to defeat two of their attack ships and capture about a thousand Raider crewmembers. Planners at the Space Command War College expect the Raiders to follow an attack strategy consistent with their modus operandi, two days from now. Computer, display the holo image ‘WC 03 — Stage 1.'"
Although it appeared to be an ordinary conference room table, the large table in the center of the roam was actually a holo-table. A detailed holographic image immediately appeared above it. An inordinately large group of tiny ships seemed to be hovering there, as they would in space. A few were larger than others, but the majority of ships were fairly uniform in size. Regardless of size, there was no doubt that all were warships because of their exterior configurations.
"We expect them to deploy their ships in a loose ‘U' formation, as you see here," Gavin continued, "and then close it to a circle when they move in once the convoy is halted. Computer, advance the image to Stage 2."
Twelve small warships, arranged in cuneal form around a lengthy freighter, appeared and moved into the center of the previously displayed group of ships before coming to a stop.
"Raider fighters will deploy from every ship, while the main ships circle the convoy and remain out of easy laser weapon range at a thousand kilometers distance. Computer, advance the image to Stage 3."
Hundreds of miniscule ships seemed to emerge from the Raider warships as the twelve escort destroyers moved to surround the freighter protectively. The fighters proceeded quickly to the center of the holographic image where they began to attack the escort ships like a swarm of angry wasps.
"We'll hold off, well beyond extended DeTect sensor range," Gavin said, "until they've stopped the convoy and begun their attack. Then we'll move in and ambush the ambushers, while the Chiron and our other ships do the same. It should be pretty crazy for a while, so make sure that your gunners are careful not to hit any friendlies. The weapons computers of all GSC ships will be synchronized
with the ‘Alpha-Thirty-Six' rotating frequency ship protection code, so the guns won't lock or fire on our own ships, but we need to be careful about the Peabody destroyers and the freighter.
"The hull on this new ship is comprised of three layers of reinforced tritanium armor, with self-sealing membranes between each, instead of the usual two layers with one membrane, so it will take a really serious hit to hurt us, but we're certainly not invulnerable. All airtight sections will be sealed off prior to our attack in case we're damaged. If anyone must travel through the ship during the fight, use Corridor 0 on any deck between five and eighteen. The airtight emergency doors in those corridors should respond to local keypad commands unless a hull breach has caused pressure to drop in the corridor, or if some other hazard exists. If the door doesn't respond to commands, coordinate your passage with Damage Control Central. Are there any questions?"
"How many enemy ships are you expecting, sir?" Lieutenant Kerrey asked.
"This is the single largest operation ever attempted by the Raiders. There were twenty-three large warships at the Raider-One space port designated to participate in the attack, and they were tasked to join an equally large complement of ships from a different Raider base. With the destruction of Raider-One and its full complement of ships, we expect that ships from a third Raider base have been sent to replace them, so we're still anticipating between forty and fifty. Knowing what we do of the Raider fleet, most will probably be destroyers, but there will undoubtedly be some frigates or cruisers, and perhaps even a battleship or two."
The conference room went silent, even more than it had been. It was as if everyone had suddenly stopped breathing.
"Uh— and how many GSC ships will be there, sir?" Lieutenant Kerrey asked.
"Ten ships have been tasked to this operation, but I'm not sure how many will reach the rendezvous point by the time the shooting begins. The timetable is being governed by the speed of the convoy. We can definitely count on three ships being there, the Chiron, the Song, and ourselves. The rest are still underway to the RP at their top speed. Since all of our ships must remain outside the DeTect range of any possible Raider picket ships, lest we frighten off the Raiders before they engage the convoy, the War College Planners have designated a location near the planet Vauzlee for our RP. We'll wait there until the Raiders actually launch their fighters and commence their attack. We'll then deploy all available resources at the top speed of the slowest ship so that we arrive in force. Any of our destroyers that haven't yet reached the RP will proceed directly to the ambush site and upon their arrival join the battle, if we're still engaged."
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