On to Tau Ceti

by David McCahan

  “Increasing Ion drives now. Velocity building slowly Sir.”

  “We have explosions on both Basel ships!” Andrew Zimmerman announced from the Tactical Station.

  Jeff looked to Saoi for confirmation. “We confirm all laser batteries and missile launch systems immobilized on both ships General. The Collective are moving to secondary systems to enhance the effect.”

  “Jeff, if we have removed any offensive capability then why don’t we start to pull them in, slowly?” Glory was thinking out loud while reviewing the sensor logs and confirming the status on her own.

  Jeff thought about it for a moment and then “Nav, time to Heliopause?”

  “We are just about up to ¾ light speed now, so unless the Basel ships suddenly flip and try to break free we’ll make the Heliopause in approximately 45 minutes, Sir.”

  “Engineering, let’s increase Grav Focus so that we slowly pull them in to 15 million miles over the next 45 minutes.”

  “Acknowledged General, increasing Grav Focus now.” Javier replied.

  Glory was watching Columbia’s system via her cybernetic link and now noticed a change in the Basel Confederation Flagship. “General, the third Basel ship has left orbit and is heading out to assist.”

  “Well then we need to see if we can get these two to leave within the next 40 hours or so. Saoi how are things going on our Basel ships we have in tow?”

  “The gravity lock along with the weapon systems all exploding had a very pronounced impact on both ships. None of the command staff pissed their pants but several crew were executed.” Saoi deadpanned through his vocalizer.

  Jeff glared at Glory who was failing in her attempt to not laugh. Finally, she composed herself enough to explain “Now I swear I did NOT put anything about that in the message but you know how we’re in each other’s thoughts well …… he hears what I hear so …” Glory just shrugged rather than finishing her thought. Saoi just looked up and gave a little wave.

  Jeff looked from Glory to Saoi and back then buried his face in his hands and laughed quietly. Then he looked at Glory and pointed a finger at her. “Ok Glorious Glory how’s our Grav Focus maneuver working?”

  “Touche’, well Sir at the current rate we’ll have them at 15 million miles right about the same time we exit the Heliosphere.”

  Index

  Chapter 12 - Desperate

  “High Commander, we have lost all offensive weaponry and systems are failing on both ships. The enemy ship is somehow dragging us out of the solar system. We will attempt to break free and destroy or cripple them with our ships. It is our honor to die in your service. Commander Moktoul out.”

  High Commander Baktul reviewed the video message again then checked the updated Tactical Plot. He couldn’t change the laws of physics so executing another engineer would not get them to the enemy any faster but he still thought about it. He looked around the Command Center and saw the sidelong glances of his officers. “The Phantoms were a horror story we told our young to make them behave and not a real creature. Anyone else mentions these Phantoms again will not draw another breath. Now remove the body of this coward from my sight!” He stepped over the body of the recently deceased Junior Tactical Officer that dared argue that it was Phantoms come to eat our souls and returned to his office to wait while they made their way to the enemy ship.

  “Sir we are now 50 million miles beyond the Heliopause.” Eva announced they have reached the point they can use FTL to jump behind the Basel ships to hopefully push the Phantom story enough to convince them to leave.

  “Very good. Engineering, drop Grav Focus. Nav, execute FTL to put us 30 million miles behind the Basel ships.” Jeff responded.

  “Executing FTL now. Increasing velocity to 5 C and coming in behind the Basel ships in 3 .. 2 .. 1 .. dropping FTL, Ion drives breaking and all stop at 30 million miles Sir.”

  “Ok, let’s let them wonder where we’ve gone for a couple of minutes. Saoi?” Jeff was asking for an update on the Basel ships and the Phantoms.

  “There is panic in both command centers and many of the crew are convinced that we are truly Phantoms. However, those in command are also executing anyone that mentions Phantoms, apparently on all three ships.” Saoi reported.

  Jeff considered that for a moment. “Well then let’s give them something very Phantom like to consider. Engineering let’s put a good strong Grav Focus lock on the Basel ships and pull them in to 20 Million miles.”

  “Yes Sir, we’ll have to put a rear focus on a distant star system though to anchor us here but it looks like Nav has us positioned in the clear so I don’t see any problems. Activating Grav Focus now.” Javier commented as he keyed the orders and Columbia began to pull the mice back to the cat again.

  “General, we made them see images of Phantoms coming for them when we did this with Invincible. We will do the same again and also blow systems from the rear of their ship to the center to make it seem Phantoms are coming to get them.” Saoi added.

  “Excellent, hopefully this pushes them over the edge.” Jeff commented while watching the plot for the Grav Focus results.

  With Grav Focus locked and pulling, the Basel ships were quickly being pulled backwards and getting close to 20 million miles distance from Columbia. Sensors detected explosions rippling up the exterior of both ships as the Collective simulated Phantoms entering their ships.

  Suddenly Glory gasped and then “Engineering emergency! Reverse Grav Focus on the ships! Emergency full Grav push! Nav, evasive! The Basel ships have flipped and are on a collision course.” Glory spotted the sudden flip of the Basel ships end for end and with the added pull of the Columbia they were closing at an alarming rate straight for a collision with the Columbia.

  “General I also launched all shuttles to screen in case they have any shuttles and then swing around and take out their drives.” Glory quickly filled Jeff in on that added unspoken order as now 30 green icons appeared on the 3d plot showing the friendly shuttles. They split into 2 groups with 1 group taking positions between Columbia and the Basel Confederation and the remainder making a strafing run down both Basel ships.

  “Acknowledged” was all Jeff said to Glory with a nod. She performed exactly as he hoped for considering her cyber link to the ship allowed her to access this information faster than anyone else aboard. Her quick action may just save them all. “Saoi, tell the Collective to get to safety as we’re going to start blowing systems with shuttle attack runs.”

  “The Collective have been informed and aware General but we are there and we’ve got this. Please hold off the shuttles.”

  Jeff began to say something to reinforce his order but multiple events cut him off. First, Engineering acknowledged the Grav Focus changes and this slowed the Basel ships advance dramatically. Also leaving the rear pull focus on a distant star system the Columbia now began to drift backward. Eva then added Ion drive to push Columbia away from danger faster and in a matter of seconds Columbia was increasing the distance at .8 C. Jeff then looked from Saoi to Glory and gave her a nod.

  “Columbia to all shuttle craft disengage attack runs. Position to screen and keep clear of Grav Focus between Columbia and hostiles.” Glory sent the message over coms and messaging.

  Jeff then keyed his com “Nav and Engineering. Let’s hold relative position at 30 million miles from Basel ships.”

  Javier reversed the rear focus from pull to push and with that stopping Columbia’s rearward slide also adjusted the forward focus to hold the Basel ships at bay. Eva had also adjusted the Ion drives to work with the Grav Focus changes and now the Columbia and Basel ships were both holding fixed positions in space. Suddenly there were large explosions to the rear of both Basel ships. Momentarily the distance between Columbia and the hostiles began to increase until Eva and Javier adjusted and again closed the distance and held the Basel in position.

  Jeff looked askance to Saoi “General, we have disabled half the drives of both ships. We got this.”

  That brought a
little smile to Jeff’s face “Yes I would say you’ve got this alright.”

  “Jeff one of the Basel ships has flipped again and trying to get away.” Glory pointed at the plot.

  “The crew on that ship have executed their commander and second in charge and are ready to leave.” Saoi observed.

  “Engineering, the cat’s done playing with the Basel trying to leave. Let’s ease up Grav Focus on that one and let them leave. Make them work at it but let ‘em pull free.”

  It looked like Javier wasn’t quite done playing though. At first when they flipped back around the Grav Focus was pushing them away and so the distance between them increased, Engineering changed the focus to pull and brought them back a little then slowly let them start pulling away. This was repeated a couple times more and then finally let them pull free. The Basel ship course corrected, presumably to the direction of home, and then kept heading out of system at a little under .5 C. Now that left one at hand and one still another 35 plus hours from meeting up with Columbia.

  “General we are sure that the Basel ship leaving will continue so almost all of the Collective that were on that ship have now moved to the one in our focus. A few will stay a while longer to make sure they do not change their minds.”

  “I’m sure the Collective there will make sure that they run home as fast as they can Saoi.” Jeff said. “Now how do we finish this one without just blowing them out of space?” Jeff pondered for a minute and then keyed his com “Engineering, since they are already pushing to get at us as hard as they can I think we can bring them in closer. Slowly bring them in to 20 million miles and see if we can’t get the crew to mutiny.”

  “We’ve certainly got them in a desperate situation. Their culture abhors failure and executes cowardice so every bit of their being says stay, fight and die if they have to, then get a reward in the afterlife. However, if they die at the hands of the Phantoms they lose their soul.” Glory commented as she monitored the systems and got glimpses of the Collective through Saoi. How she would love to merge and be part of the activity on the Basel ship.

  Suddenly the Basel shipped flipped and Jeff looked at Saoi. “Yes General, it appears that the ship’s commander has decided he believes now. His second objected and got executed as a result. The commander has ordered their ship to leave if they can.”

  “That’s excellent news. Instead of a mutinied crew we now have the actual commander of one of these ships reporting back. Engineering, we’re done with this one too. Let them break free the same as the other one.” Jeff watched the plot as the same tug of war played out although Javier made this one work even harder to break free. Finally, the second Basel ship was headed for home.

  “High Commander we cannot fight the Phantoms. We have lost all weaponry, most of our tactical systems and half our drives. We have tried to ram them with our ships but they held us off by their magic as easy as you would hold a child away. They come for our souls and we cannot stop them. We have broken free and leave for home. Moktoul out.”

  High Commander Baktul was beyond furious and took his rage out on his office. He wanted blood but if he executed more he would not have any experienced officers left to run the ship. He looked at his Tactical plot and there was still 30 hours until intercept. In that 30 hours he must use his cunning and ruthlessness to find a weakness.

  Index

  Chapter 13 - Ruthless

  “Ok, so two down and one to go. Outside of the attempted suicide run on us that went really well. Saoi with all of the systems exploding on the Basel Confederation ships are all of the Collective alright?” Jeff was meeting with senior staff to have a quick wrap-up meeting before they had to prepare to take on the flag ship.

  “Yes General, it was tense when we disabled their drives but all Collective are well. No casualties this time.”

  “Good, now let’s keep it that way with their command ship. Nav and Engineering we’ll need to be aware of the possible suicide maneuver being used again but hopefully that’s the only surprise they have for us.” Jeff looked from Eva to Javier and saw nods of understanding/agreement from both. Seeing Glory clearing her throat he took that as a sign she had something to add. “Colonel?”

  “Yes Sir, the one concern I have is this should be their flag ship leading this group, so this one should be meaner, tougher and a better tactician than the other two more junior commanders. Additionally, he has all of the sensor logs from our engagement and we know how first rate their tactical system are. I don’t think he is going to fall for the same tricks since he has just seen them. I don’t anticipate him, or what’s left of his crew, are going to be as easy to convince.”

  “Colonel Callaghan makes a very good point. We have right at 28 hours now until our adversary meets us in interstellar space. We have a decided advantage out here and if they’ll come to us then we’ll stay out here and wait. Besides we need a break and time to prepare.” Jeff surveyed the room and saw agreement all around. Not very talkative at this point but then that was a long tense engagement. “Let’s get personnel rotations in so that we’re all fresh and get some food and rest yourselves. Let’s meet back here in 24 hours and see if anyone can think up some devious surprises for mister nasty out there in the meantime. Dismissed.”

  As everyone was leaving the Commander’s Conference Room, Rhonda Evans approached Jeff. “Sir I take it your orders for rest and nutrition apply equally to you or do I need to pull Chief Medical Officer rank and see to it myself?”

  Jeff held up his hands in surrender “Yes Ma’am, I promise I’ll be a good boy and eat all my vegetables and lots of pie now that I think about it.”

  “Oh I second that motion.” Saoi added.

  “That’s one thing we don’t have any problem with is getting these two to eat. Rhonda I suggest you get to the mess hall before them if you want any.” Glory said while she and Saoi approached arm in arm as usual. “Jeff while our bodies rest we’ll listen with the Collective and see if they have any suggestions and lessons learned from this last Phantom engagement.”

  “Sounds like a plan Glo. I know I’m really hungry so how about we all go catch a bite to eat together, we can talk through this a little more and then get some rest? Rhonda?”

  “Yes Sir I’d be happy to join you all for a meal.” Rhonda agreed.

  High Commander Baktul is reviewing the tactical data from his ships engagement with the ‘Phantoms’. Again he saw the ship’s response to the invisible weapon that grabbed on to the ships and then all the lasers and missile launch systems exploded, ‘but the missiles did not explode’ he thought to himself. He took note of the range at which his ships were when the enemy ship ‘pulled’ on them, ‘why the same distance’ he thought and took note of that. A strategy began to take shape and the corners of his mouth turned up into a sneer.

  “While we are in contact with the Collective onboard the Victorious we are not merged at that distance and so do not have the full details but it appears we are dealing with one of the best the Basel Confederation has to offer. Having lost a couple Battle Cruisers trying to colonize the planet here they sent this battle group.” Glory began a summary of the hostile they were about to face.

  Saoi picked up her thoughts “He has been studying our engagement non-stop since his subordinates left and he feels that he has a strategy to use on us. We have not been able to get specifics on the strategy but he is not going to repeat what the other ships have done.”

  Jeff nodded in understanding “Captain Zimmerman your thoughts?”

  “Thank You Sir. First and foremost, we want to stay out of missile range, if at all possible. The Invincible took a blind shot and hurt us, so as Colonel Callaghan has pointed out their tactical systems are first rate and probably better than ours. Our great advantage is our FTL and I would propose using that along with our other secret weapon the Collective. Once we have them clear enough from the Heliosphere then we can FTL jump around them. Every time we stop, the Collective can overload or disable systems on the side we
appear. Along the way we take out sensors, missiles, lasers and drives a small piece at a time. Once we’ve worn them down then we come in behind and start to pull on them with Grav Focus. With half of their drives gone, no weaponry and half blind they either run or we finish them and hope the three other ships return to their home and convince their leaders that Phantoms are real and this area of space should be forbidden.”

  “Thank You Andrew. Javier how are the Grav Drives going to hold up in and out of FTL like that?” Jeff asked.

  “General that will actually be easier on them than all of the pulling and pushing we did earlier. Ion Drives will be worked a little harder but I don’t see any real problems. The plan sounds like a good change of pace and may surprise our opponent.”

  “Ok, Eva? Your opinion?”

  “I want a nice long vacation after this but we can make Columbia dance around them quick enough to make them dizzy Sir.” Eva answered.

  “I think I’d pay to see that.” Jeff responded. “Ok we’re getting close to go time so let’s see if we can get this one to run but everyone remember we’ve already got three of them running for home. All four would be really great but not the end of the world if we have to disable them and blow their core. Remember we’re not using Grav Focus for most of this engagement so we’re going to stay out about 50 million miles until we move in for final solution. Top priority is no human or Collective casualties. Clear?” Seeing all in agreement “Then Dismissed.”

  “The Basel flag ship is now at our intercept point.” Glory called over the command channel.

  Jeff looked at Glory and Saoi and had a stray thought “They are always together. Maybe I should just come up with a single name that means the two of them like ‘Glee’. No that’s not it.” Then shook that off. “Saoi, is the Collective ready?”