A tiny ship that Cho could only make out with the aid of visual enhancers scurried just ahead of the chaos. The Bone Scout’s computer immediately and definitively identified it as the unknown spacecraft that the Patriarch had made it Cho’s mission to follow. It was clear that the tiny ship could not have been designed for space battle because it looked more like an aircraft, or at best a small orbiter. Equally obvious was its rapid acceleration as it left all pursuers in its flaming wake. But whose ships were these, what were they doing here, what was the nature of the space battle and why were people shooting at each other rather than forming a line to face the alien craft?
"Computer, I’d like a summary of all the ships in this sector, including all wrecks that are still identifiable. I don’t need stations. Execute."
"Understood", said the computer and instantly flashed up a large view-field, divided up into several rectangles, in which all the located spaceships were itemised with pictures and significant data annotated. In total, the computer counted 19 ships in this system; every one of them was located on the route between the jump-gates that linked the Split sector with Xenon territory.
Cho decided against getting involved in any combat operations; his instructions were as clear as glass, follow the alien ship until he could corner it. Normally the Patriarch’s special envoy would have jumped excitedly into the fray, but this time his mind remained absolutely cold.
"Avoid any kind of conflict and follow the target ship," he instructed the pilot. Uchan t'Scct acknowledged and Cho examined the ships that the computer had identified. Seven were Split destroyers, defending themselves against three Boron battleships. They did not actually need a particular reason to fight Boron, but Cho would nonetheless have liked to know why. Four black Xenon fighters had evidently just come through the jump-gate at high speed, overshot the alien ship and were now pulling a loop in order to turn around. They were also violating an ancient pact by entering Split jurisdiction, Cho reminded himself. A Paranid freighter trying to escape the battle zone with its hull intact was heading for the gate from which the Bone Scout emerged, while another middle-sized ship of Argon construction was performing a swing-by of the gas giant and would probably meet a couple of Hornet-class missiles in a few Sezuras. The seventeenth and eighteenth identified ships were the alien and Cho’s own Python. The nineteenth, however, was on a completely impossible flight path, at such a high speed that it shone blue as it approached the Bone Scout from behind and above, on course for the battle. The ship cooled towards the red end of the spectrum as it passed the destroyer. It was a cylinder the size of a carrier and neither Cho nor the on-board computer could classify by means of its silhouette or construction characteristics. In spite of its size, the gravidar did not report it, as if it had no mass!
A ghost ship.
"Computer, record!" Cho cried unnecessarily, as the computer was fully documenting the unusual events anyway. Ghost ships were perhaps the most mysterious phenomena, yet common to all space-faring species of the Commonwealth. Since ancient times, pilots had reported rare instances of these gigantic, unidentifiable ships, which never came through jump-gates, instead plunging quietly in an almost straight line and at enormous speeds, across star systems and out of the other side, far beyond the orbit of the outermost planets and vanishing again into the nothingness. For a long time, people had put these visions down to over-use of spaceweed; particularly as it was rumoured that the eerie ghost ships only appeared shortly before disastrous catastrophes such as wars, the eruption of a supernova in an inhabited star system, the destruction of a jump-gate or other similar events. Many attributed the cylindrical ships to the unknown builders of the jump-gates, the "Ancients" as they were also known, but that was just a theory and no one knew their actual origin, their mission, or the timings of their appearances.
Cho barely got the chance to grab a closer look at this remarkable flying object before it shot beyond visual range at a speed that defeated the vision-enhancer’s ability to track it.
A blue flicker on the rear-camera monitor indicated that the jump-gate had activated once again. Two more ships, Teladi cruisers, appeared with retro-thrusters blazing as the saurians reacted with their customary spirit to the raging battle.
"Cowardly creatures!" mumbled Cho, as they reversed course.
The Bone Scout approached the Xenon jump-gate at high speed and would be in the approach corridor in less than a Stazura. The ships coming from the direction of the gas giant and the Split gate would reach there at about the same time – and they had obviously noticed the Bone Scout because one of the three Boron battleships had adjusted its course to intercept Cho’s destroyer in a few Mizuras, a slim missile preceding it on a tail of flame.
The computer sounded the combat alarm.
"Maintain course," ordered Cho. Evading the missile would mean wasting valuable sezuras. This could be the acid test of the newly repaired shield generators.
The crew watched the approach of the missile tensely. In the mean time the Xenon had completed their double-back manoeuvre and raced after the small alien ship, which at that moment was approaching the jump-gate.
"Battle stations, controls to me," ordered the Patriarch’s special envoy. He scanned the readouts, calculated the approximate vectors in his head and ripple-fired three interceptor missiles towards the Boron battleship. He fired three more salvoes, spacing each out carefully. Then Cho activated the lasers and with a single pulse destroyed the approaching missile before it could even get close to the Bone Scout’s energy shields.
The Boron battleship attempted to evade Cho’s missiles, narrowly dodging the first salvo. However, Cho had correctly predicted the course change and the second salvo smashed into the energy field protecting the Boron destroyer. The three missiles exploded in a star-like blazing ball of atomic destruction without penetrating the adversary’s shields. The Boron managed to get off a few shots from its plasma throwers, which bounced off the Bone Scout’s screen, before the third salvo pounded the Boron battleship’s shield. It flickered and surged back up, flickered again, and then the fourth salvo hit. This time the fireball was blinding and the Bone Scout plunged through the small star that had been a Boron destroyer, with shields blazing.
Cho t'Nnt grimaced with deep satisfaction; one Boron less. How terribly stupid of these revolting creatures to assault him, he had not sought combat, just as ordered – but a direct attack could only be answered with immediate retaliation!
The other two Boron ships veered away. They had certainly not expected such a fierce and effective reaction from a lone Split ship, having previously dealt with seven other destroyers without any difficulty. However, the Bone Scout’s weaponry went far beyond what a Python-class battleship would normally mount.
Out of the corner of his eye, Cho caught the admiring glance from his first officer but he did not allow himself to be affected by it.
The brown gas giant now loomed before the destroyer. The gravity of Gho-Czman grabbed at the Bone Scout as the pilot used its pull to slingshot the ship towards the jump-gate with a fuel-saving speed boost.
Cho glanced at the tactical screen. With the Boron disengaging the battle disintegrated. The Xenon sped in typically single-minded pursuit of the alien ship, the Teladi had scurried out of the system with the Paranid freighter lumbering behind and a lightly damaged Argon ship hung in high orbit over the gas giant. A single Hornet would be enough and Cho wrestled with the urge to finish it off. It would be enjoyable but not so diplomatic, given the uncertainties and he reluctantly took his hand off the launch control.
"Establish a connection to all Split ships in this system," he ordered. The computer acknowledged and seven faces appeared alongside one another on the communications screen.
"This is the Special Envoy of the Chin Patriarch. All units must return to their home bases. By the orders of the Patriarch, the pursuit of the target ship will be…" Cho hesitated for a moment. Perhaps it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to take one or two of the dest
royers with him as escorts? On the other hand – he would probably end up protecting them, and anyway, it was already difficult enough to keep control of his own impulses without having to stop a collection of less well-trained Split from shooting everything in range to pieces with their cannons. "…undertaken by me personally, unaccompanied. Identification follows." He ordered the computer to transmit the Patriarch’s authorisation code and ended the transmission without waiting for any replies, arguments or queries. He observed the gravidar with satisfaction as the destroyers turned away.
The system was now almost as peaceful as it had been in his memory. No mysterious spacecraft of the "Ancients", no Xenon, no Boron and no battles. But Cho knew that this could only be the calm before the storm. It was not for nothing that little was known about the sectors dominated by the Xenon; it was more than just risky to venture there. Many of those who had done so had never returned. But Cho was confident; in fact he felt a certain thrill of anticipation. The Xenon were honest and able foes in their own way, silent and determined. They would engage him in battle and would not give him any opportunity to avoid them – good! Perhaps the Patriarch loved him after all?
Cho prepared a message regarding the events and also added a full report on the Ancients’ ship. The message drone was not programmed to return and would remain with its recipient. Cho watched the retreating blip on the gravidar, which, after only a few Sezuras, was already so fast that the tracking system could no longer follow it.
"Collision alarm!"
The destroyer had only just emerged from the jump-gate, and the gravidar had not yet fully re-adjusted after the dimensional exchange when the computer sounded a warning. Before it finished the phrase a sharp black object with glowing red edges smashed against the Bone Scout's shields. Cho had braced himself against the back of the command seat in anticipation of a major impact, but the minor shock was a testament to the calibration of the inertial dampers. The shield energy dropped briefly down to half and but quickly regenerated. The glowing debris sputtered around the destroyer and cooled into invisibility.
"What was that?"
"It looked like the wing and fuselage of a Xenon fighter, master," replied Uchan t'Scct, the pilot of the Bone Scout.
As the gravitational radar resumed operation, Cho began to get an idea of why the wreckage of destroyed ships should be swirling around the entrance to the enemy star system: it looked as though two naval formations had met one another at a distance of about half an astronomical unit and were throwing themselves into a fierce battle; the fragment had presumably belonged to one of the Xenon that Cho had seen shortly before on the other side of the jump-gate. Someone had destroyed them.
With its featureless blips, the gravidar could provide no information about who had been fighting whom; only from the configuration and positions of the ships could anything be read. The target spacecraft was clearly recognisable in the middle of a group of points which were very obviously holding open a kind of corridor for it which they sealed after it had flown through. A whole wing of attackers fought to penetrate this screen but had so far failed to do so. Cho was certain that the attackers were Xenon. But who were the "saviours" of this unknown spacecraft? The Teladi and Boron could be ruled out from the start since they had never been known to undertake missions here, far out in Xenon territory; that left just the Argon or the Paranid. Cho hoped that it wasn’t the Argon, because that would spell the end of his mission and the Patriarch would hold him to account for it.
After another four mizuras the optical telescopes were able to zoom in on the widely spaced battle fleets. A large formation of Paranid carriers, fighters and destroyers were battling through a cloud of Xenon. Weapon discharges flared continuously; explosions and burning ships bathed the scene in flickering light. But why were there no more Xenon coming to help their falling comrades? After several Mizuras, as the Bone Scout came closer to the events, Cho could finally make sense of it. The alien space ship was going through the jump-gate in the middle of its Paranid entourage; all of the Paranid craft apart from two ultra-heavy destroyers followed him. The two ships that remained behind held the Xenon off with ease and withdrew through the gate unscathed, following the battle formation.
"Very astute, our allies," said Cho to Uchan, "guarding each jump-gate with heavy units to cut off the machines from their own territory. I would like to bet that they have secured the whole route, gate by gate, from here to Priest’s Pity the same way."
The pilot agreed with his master. "Yes master. The three-eyed ones must have detached an enormous battle group for this mission."
"Their entire fleet, more than likely," replied Cho.
Uchan nodded. "Evidently."
"One can snatch the prize away from even the largest battle group if its commanders are religious fanatics who, despite their three eyes, cannot see further than the front of their bony skulls."
"A Teladi saying that always proves true, master."
Cho got up from the command seat and drew up close to his pilot. "An Argon saying, Uchan. Does he know what the real difference is between the Argon and ourselves?"
The target of the question did not allow himself be unsettled by his commander and held on to the controls and steering units with increased determination. "No master", he replied.
"Just one thing – they have their hate under better control than us, Uchan. That is their greatest advantage – and at the same time, their greatest failing! Does he understand?"
"Yes master."
Cho made a gesture of genuine scepticism; Uchan t'Scct was intelligent and competent, but he would surely not be able to comprehend offhand the profound thoughts of his master. Relenting, Cho made the sign for "unexpected opportunity" with four fingers towards the cockpit window.
"Good. We will follow the Paranid fleet on their way through the enemy sectors at a sensible distance. They will clear the way for us and draw the attention of the machines towards themselves."
They would get their chance…
CHAPTER 24
It is better to make a profit and lose it again than never to make a profit at all.
Teladi Proverb
It did not require much in the way of piloting skills to steer the Getsu Fune through the gigantic airlock into the landing area of the trading station High Finance, landing with grace in the designated area. Elena ordered Marc to prepare detailed recordings of all the ships that the Getsu Fune had landed in the middle of; the different types and designs fascinated Elena, inviting pictures of their makers to drift across the depths of her imagination. For example the ship in the adjacent landing slot had an unusual, organic shape and appearance that seemed unlikely to contribute much to its flight handling but neither did it appear to serve any technical purpose. The hull had a strange hue to her eyes, a shade somewhere between purple and blue that stood out against the background of the other ten or twelve more prosaic designs parked around it. She was almost certain that it had not been built by the humans of this sector, but rather by non-human creatures of some kind. Maybe by the reptilians whose space traffic controller had greeted her as she entered the star system?
While her gaze wandered wide-eyed, a glassy, cantilevered tube protruded from above and searched up and down, back and forth, at about a meter's distance from the ship's side, with staccato movements that suggested electronic confusion. A gangway or docking tunnel, possibly, trying to mate with the Getsu Fune's airlock and unable to identify the ship type was fruitlessly searching for the right place?
For hundreds of years, there had been protocols established between terrestrial ships and stations, covering service entrances, airlocks and their dimensions, as well as procedures for the loading and unloading of vehicles, which allowed them to recognise their respective counterparts, even when dealing with completely new types with inherently different constructions and procedures. The variety of ships currently in this landing area alone suggested that something of that kind must exist here, far from Earth.
; "Marc, can you transmit the service protocol to the station?"
"Affirmative", answered the computer. The glassy tunnel outside continued to perform its spasmodic dance and it took Elena a few seconds to realise her mistake. "Could you do it then, please!" she ordered, shaking her head.
Marc confirmed, and seconds later the transparent landing tunnel swept purposefully to the Getsu Fune's airlock, and sucked itself firmly onto the ship's side with a loud sucking sound. Her instruments showed a loading procedure underway; the station was trying to replenish the ship's fuel and O2 supplies. For a moment she considered aborting the process, not sure if the station would be able to provide the correct elements but then she remembered that the service protocols specified the detailed chemical compositions of the fuel, including the tolerances. If they were accepted and acted upon she could be confident that the requested materials were available.
But what next? Elena had ascertained that the atmosphere and pressure outside the ship were suitable for her. In fact the controls indicated that the oxygen content of the gas mixture in the station accounted for twenty-five percent rather than the Earth's characteristic twenty-one percent, but that should be no problem. The instruments also showed traces of several unusual noble gases, in quantities that should be completely safe for a human.
Farnham's Legend: The beginning of the X-Universe saga (X Games Book 1) Page 17