by Saxon Andrew
Sam lifted his communicator, “Captain Nefen.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“I want you to follow that ship and keep your scanners operating at maximum range. If you detect it moving back toward us, I want you to immediately inform me. You won’t be able to outrun it so once you detect it, get into normal space and shut down all your systems except for environmental. I suggest that you have all your crew in space suits and even shut down the environmental before it arrives at your location. I suspect you’ll be chasing it for about seven weeks before you detect it.”
“Yes, Sir. My ship is fully provisioned and we’ll be able to make the voyage.”
“Fen, don’t take any chances. As soon as you detect it, hide!”
“Yes, Sir.”
Jek looked at Sam, “What are you going to do?”
“Go and see if that Colony Ship Commander has anything we can use to confront that ship when it comes back. I do know it is capable of flying as fast as it does and we need to see if we can modify some of our warships in time.”
Jek nodded as Rangel moved the ship back into Under Space and boosted toward Heaven’s filament.
Chapter Three
The Ruling Party on Heaven welcomed the Dojuit and ordered the engineers to start building a place for them to settle. Sam went to Killamed and entered the main government building. He was escorted to the top floor and saw the five Party Members sitting around a table with a being that had to be the Commander of the Colony Ship. He was short, only about four feet tall, and his head was disproportionally large for his body. His skin was grainy and light brown in color. His orange colored eyes were large and appeared to have no lids. He saw as he moved closer it did have lids, they were just transparent. Its arms and legs were well muscled and it wore a red colored uniform with numerous pieces of metal on the right chest. President Dyget said, “Commander Pletal, this is Fleet Commander Oliver. He’s the one that directed you to come here.”
Pletal stood up and came to Sam and hugged him, “Thank you for your saving us from the Tronan.”
“You’re welcome.”
Dyget said, “Come and join us. We need to discuss what we’re going to do if and when that warship comes back.”
Sam sat down and listened as several scientists and engineers began questioning Pletal. The questions continued for two hours and at the end, everyone in the conference room was clearly worried. Dyget turned to Sam and said, “You’ve been quiet. What do you think we can do against this threat?”
Sam looked at Gamgel, the lead scientist, “Have you learned anything during your questioning that might help us?”
“I think we can take the booster system being used by the colony ship and adapt it to our vessels. It is going to take some time, however, from what I’ve gleaned from Pletal, our fuel will actually operate more efficiently in their reactor than the one they’re currently using.”
Sam tilted his head, “Surely there’s more to it than just changing the reactor and fuel?”
“There is. They use a combustion chamber in front of the boost ejectors that causes the jets to more than triple in power. I believe that injecting an ounce of Bretel into the new reactor will double the power of the one they’re using. That means that any ship we modify should be considerably faster than that warship that was chasing the Dojuit.”
“How long will it take you to modify our ships? Sam asked.”
Gamgel looked at Hardy and said, “That’s a question for the engineer.”
“It’s going to take at least six weeks to take out the current boosters and install the new conduits and reactor,” Hardy replied.
“How many ships can you modify simultaneously?”
“What. I was just talking about one.”
“Hardy, this is life or death. You’re going to need to call in every engineer you have and work on as many ships as you can to get ready for that monster to come back. I also want you to redesign two of our warships to very specific parameters.” Everyone stared at Sam and he turned to Pletal, “I’m also going to need to modify your vessel as well.”
Pletal looked at Sam, “What sort of modifications?”
“We need to arm it and use it as a decoy when the Tronan ship returns.”
President Dyget looked at Sam, “You should have been able to learn from the question and answers that we don’t have a blaster that will match up with the Tronan Warship.”
“I know. We’re going to have to make do with what we have.” Sam looked back at Hardy, “How many ships can you modify in three months?”
“Do you think we have that long?” Dyget asked.
“Pletal said that the Tronan knew that he only had eight weeks of fuel remaining. I suspect the Tronan will go another week before they turn around. So let’s say that’s seventeen to eighteen weeks. Maybe more if it takes them time to reverse course and get back up to maximum speed.” Sam turned back to Hardy, “How many?”
“If I used every building site on Heaven, we can only modify forty ships.” Sam stared at him and Hardy raised his hands, “Fleet Commander, it’s going to take ten weeks just to build the new booster systems and reactors. We’ll start removing the old systems while that’s being done but with only forty sites capable of doing the modifications, we’ll be fortunate to finish in time.”
Sam looked at Party Chairman, Jeg, “How many missiles do we have in storage?”
“About twenty thousand.” Sam stared at Jeg and the Guyton nodded as he listened to Sam’s thoughts. Jeg turned to Hardy, “How many engineers will be available to build missile ports in the colony ship?”
“I’m planning to use about six thousand teams in modifying the forty ships. I don’t have room for any more so there should be twelve thousand engineers with their building teams not being used on the ships.”
Jeg looked at Sam, “I’ll have enough manufactured in time.”
President Dyget looked at Jeg and Sam, “What are you planning?”
Jeg looked around the table and said where everyone could hear, “What do you think is going to be the primary target that Tronan Warship is going after first?”
Pletal said, “My colony ship.”
Sam nodded, “And in order for it to be attacked, the Tronan Vessel will have to slow down to attack if it’s in normal space away from the filament. We’ve got to have it where it can’t use its superior speed to attack our warships.”
Dyget heard Jeg’s thoughts as he explained what Sam was planning. After a few minutes, he looked at Sam and lowered his eyes, “Do you think this will work?”
Sam shrugged, “If it doesn’t, we’re going to lose a lot of ships in the fleet.”
Dyget stared at him for a long moment and then said, “Is there a possibility Heaven might be attacked?”
“Yes, Party President.”
“Then make sure it does work.”
Sam nodded and began asking Hardy questions. He knew that there was no time for Heaven to build a colony ship to allow some of the population to escape and using the Dojuit ship was fruitless. It could not escape the Tronan now that it had been stopped. He knew that if push came to shove, Delilah’s Sword would be the weapon of last resort.
• • •
The Tronan Ship Director looked at his sensor operator, “We should have run up on them by now.”
“Yes, Ship Director.”
“Why haven’t we?”
“They must have left this filament somewhere behind us.”
The Director turned to his Ship Controller, “Turn the ship around.” He turned back to the Scanner Operator, “Where?”
“I’ve been looking at the intersections we’ve transited and there is only one that allowed a possibility of the Dojuit making a turn at the speed it was traveling where we could not detect it.”
“Send the coordinates to the Controller and prepare the Doggets to search for it.”
“Yes, Director.” There are only two filaments at that intersection that it could have used to make that r
adical of a turn.”
“Is that the filament where we were scanned?”
“It is.”
“Perhaps those beings offered assistance to the Dojuits. You did get a scan on the ships that launched the probes?”
“I did.”
“Program the Doggets to search for those ships along with the Dojuit vessel.”
“Sending the information to them now.”
The Director was tired. This chase had taken far too long. If the Dojuits were with those beings that scanned his ship…he could handle both issues simultaneously and start back home. That was the only good thing to come out of this mess.
• • •
“Captain Nefen.”
“Yes, Fleet Commander.”
“You’re six weeks out and I want you to turn around and start back now.”
“I’ve not detected that warship, Commander.”
“I expect it to turn around in about two or three weeks from now. I want you to start launching probes in the filament stream moving in the direction you’ve been traveling. Launch one a day until you arrive back at our intersection.”
“I should have thought of that, Sir. The enemy vessel will probably start destroying the probes when it runs up on them.”
“Yes, that’s what I believe will happen. We’ll receive the destruct signal and we’ll know how long we have before they arrive. Fen, go to maximum speed. Even with a two-week head start, that vessel might catch you.”
“Yes, Sir. I’m having the ship turn as we speak. We’ll launch the first probe in ten minutes.”
“Contact Team Leader Stevens each time you launch a probe and give her the probe’s frequency.”
“Yes, Sir.”
• • •
Sam ended the call and Jek nodded, “Now that’s strategic thinking.”
“I don’t want to lose him. He’s one of our best ship commanders.” Sam looked at Jek, “Have you heard anything from your father about the colony ship modifications.”
“Jeg has assigned each engineering team one launch tube to be installed on the ship. He’s installing all of them on one side of the ship.” Sam’s eyes widened and Jek smiled, “That Tronan ship can only come in on one side to attack. The ship can be rotated to keep the armed side toward the attacker.”
“But what if the launchers run short on missiles?”
“I think you want volume and the launchers can fire a missile every ten seconds. Think it through, Commander. Would twelve thousand launchers scattered around the hull be better than twelve thousand launchers all grouped together on one side of the vessel?”
Sam nodded, “You’re right. I need a veritable blizzard of missiles fired at that ship.”
“I doubt many will make it through the Tronan blasters.”
“We’ll see. After all, their blasters are scattered around their hull.”
Jek smiled, “You make a good point.”
“What about the ships being modified.”
“They’re actually ahead of schedule. The Sword will be completed last because of its size but the others will be done three weeks early.”
“Can they get another forty ready?”
“No, Sir. Remember, they will have to have their old systems removed before the new boosters can be installed and there’s no other work sites on the planet to start that process while the first forty are being worked on.”
“I hope Hardy was right about our design actually being faster than the colony ship?”
“We won’t know until they’re completed.”
“I expect the Tronan to turn around within two or three weeks from now.”
Jek shrugged, “Maybe they’ll just keep going.” Sam looked at Jek through his eyebrows. “It doesn’t hurt to hope, Sir.”
“I guess.”
“Besides, they’ll have six filaments at the intersection to inspect.”
“What would you do if you were in that Tronan Commander’s place, Jek?”
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“The reason I’ve recalled Captain Nefen is because I’m certain they scanned Captain Drenlin’s vessel as they passed. All they’ll need to do is stop at the intersection and launch probes on every filament looking for that Colony Ship or our ships. If we shoot down the probes as they move in on our filament, they’ll know something is amiss and move toward Heaven. If we leave them alone, they’ll see the colony ship along with our fleet. Either way, they’ll be coming our way pretty quickly after they arrive.”
Jek shook his head, “You know, I’m pretty good at killing things but I don’t have the kind of brain that thinks strategically like you and your father. Give me a target and I’m at my best. I was thinking the Tronan Warship would have to investigate the most likely filament and that could take a very long time.”
“Jek, the way the filaments cross at the intersection, the colony ship couldn’t have negotiated the turn on most of them. According to Stevens, there were only two, possibly three that they could have made the turn successfully. I’m reasonably certain the Tronan Commander knows that and will focus on them to the exclusion of the others.”
“You’re just a fount of good news!”
“We’ll know if your hope comes true soon. The probes Fen launched should be arriving at the Tronan’s location in three weeks or less.”
“Is that why you’ve moved all our warships away from the intersection?”
“It is.”
“Are you going to allow their probes to come here unmolested?”
“No! I don’t want them to know what they’re moving in to. I have fifteen hundred warships one third of the way out from the planet tasked with destroying any probes they launch. I’m hoping if they don’t know what’s ahead of them they will slow down and move in cautiously.”
“From what I’ve seen in Pletal’s mind, caution is not in the Tronan vocabulary.”
“Like you said earlier, one can hope.”
“That still gives us about nine weeks before they make an appearance.” Sam nodded and sat back in his command chair as the engineers worked on his ship. That pre-combustion chamber being installed on each booster was huge. Jek looked at him and said, “Have you gone to see Annie?”
Sam sighed and closed his eyes before saying, “She’s no longer interested.” He looked at Jek, “Or have you heard something different in her thoughts?”
“You know she read me the riot act for telling you about that last anniversary date you forgot.”
“It wasn’t an anniversary. We’d only been dating for six months.”
“You need to get a grip on understanding the females of your species. They place a high importance on things like that. It reassures them that they’re important to you.”
“You didn’t answer my question; have you heard anything different?”
“She’s still ticked off.”
“That’s still not an answer!”
Jek sighed, “She’s seeing someone else.”
Sam rolled his eyes, “That’s just great!”
“If you want her, you have to be willing to fight for her.”
“Jek that takes time and how much time do I have for the foreseeable future. President Dyget is on my butt everyday wanting an update on every one of the ships being modified. The engineers are constantly calling to ask…”
“I know, I know. It’s just that the two of you were so good together. It seems like such a waste.”
Sam sighed, “I do miss her. But what can I do?”
“I’d start by remembering anniversaries in the future.”
Sam leaned forward, “Perhaps you can help me with that?”
“Hey, you need to handle this yourself.”
“But having a telepath as your best friend ought to have some benefits!”
“It does. But in the ways of love, you’re on your own, pal.”
Sam rolled his eyes and said, “It does appear something good did come out of the meeting Stevens had with me.”
&nbs
p; “What is that?” Jek asked.
“The crew trusts you. They saw you did everything possible to save Steven’s feelings and you were visibly angry about what happened. They know you have their best interests at heart.”
“Stevens is an extraordinary Scanner Leader. I believe she has come to terms with what happened and no longer hates you as much as she did.”
“That’s reassuring. She hated me a lot.”
Jek shrugged, “Emotions don’t change easily. At least she can work with you effectively.”
“Has she completed placing the passive probes?”
“She has. They have been slaved to your panel.”
Sam leaned back in his chair and heard his panel issue a loud ping. He looked at the monitor and sighed, “President Dyget wants another update.”
Jek rolled his eyes, “Better you than me. I’ll go pick us up a meal. You’re going to be busy for a while.” Sam nodded as he pushed his communicator button.
• • •
Two weeks later, Sam was in his quarters sleeping. He was exhausted and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. He was dreaming of Annie when his communicator beeped. He didn’t hear it and the beep grew louder with each tone. Finally, he opened his eyes, took it off the bedside table, and pressed the enable button, “YES!”
He saw Shelly Sevens on the small display and she said, “Sir, I’m sorry for disturbing your rest but you ordered me to contact you the moment one of Captain Nefen’s probes was destroyed.”
“Do you have a location?”
“Yes, Sir. It’s moving back toward the intersection.”
Sam closed his eyes and shook his head slightly. Jek’s hope didn’t materialize. “Do you have an estimate on when it will arrive?”
“Not yet. I’ll be able to nail that down when another probe is destroyed.”
“Keep me informed, Team Leader. You’re doing an excellent job.”
“Thank you, Sir.” Sam ended the call and fell back on the bed. He was asleep instantly.