by Doug Farren
“Captain Hansen, due to the tension between your nation and mine, perhaps it would be prudent for you to choose another planet within this system. There are three ships full of colonists and supplies due to arrive within the next few days. I would hate to see problems develop between our two groups of civilians.”
“Sorry captain,” the reply came back without delay. “This system was already surveyed and a mining site chosen. The equipment and other materials on the ship were specifically selected to support a mining operation on the forth planet. Don’t worry captain, I will instruct the miners not to get in your way.”
Captain Ibrahim sighed, then decided that interplanetary treaties superseded his orders. Before he could reply, his tactical station said, “Sir, I am unable to scan the incoming ships. There appears to be some sort of localized jamming field in operation. My sensor beams are coming back scrambled.”
“Captain Hansen. Would you be so kind as to explain the presence of a jamming signal surrounding your ships?”
“Not to worry captain. The boys over on the civilian ship are working on some sort of orbital heavy metal detection device. It’s been reeking havoc on our own sensors ever since we came out of stardrive. Fact is, we did not even detect your ship in orbit until you hailed us.”
This was most unusual. The ships were not transmitting any IDS and now they were hidden behind some sort of interference that was preventing them from being scanned. Captain Ibrahim was not happy about the whole thing. “I would like to verify your identity before allowing you to enter orbit. Please ask your civilian engineers to shutdown their device so I can get a good scan of your ships.”
“Standby Sawari. I’ll see what I can do.” There was a ten minute delay before the reply came back. “Sorry for the delay old chap. I’m being told that they are doing some kind of calibration and if they shut the unit down now they will have to start all over again. According to the chief engineer, the calibration should be done in about an hour or so.”
“Very well. Please establish an orbit that does not conflict with ours and remain well clear of our people once they arrive.”
“Thank you for your understanding. Impervious out.”
Captain Ibrahim got up and walked over to his tactical station. “Keep a close eye on them. There is something not quite right about all this. Keep trying to punch through their interference and let me know if you detect anything suspicious.”
* * * * *
“Any change?” Captain Ibrahim asked after returning from a tour of the ship.
“No sir. The jamming is still present and I still cannot make out any details of the approaching vessels. The ships continue to follow a normal approach trajectory.”
The captain glanced at the ship’s chronometer and noted that it had been nearly an hour and twenty minutes since he had last spoken to the British captain. “Hail the Impervious.”
As soon as the connection had been established, the now familiar voice of Captain Hanson said, “This is the HMS Impervious. What can I do for you captain?”
“It has been over an hour and your remote sensing equipment is still interfering with our sensors. Before you proceed any further I must insist that you shutdown the source of the interference and allow me to identify your vessels.”
“I will see what I can do about that captain. Please standby while I consult with the engineer.” The link was terminated before the UAN captain could reply.
“I’ve had about enough of this,” the captain muttered to himself. He then entered a request into his console and a moment later the face of the chief engineer appeared on his screen. “Chief, is there anything else you can do to try to punch through the jamming field being generated by the British ships?”
The chief engineer thought for a few moments then said, “Well, we could boost the beam signal by bypassing the current limiter. It might give us enough of a signal to punch through the interference. It also might burn out the emitter.”
“How long to set it up?”
“Everything is software controlled. I can have the command sequence ready in a couple of minutes.”
“Do it. Let me know when you’re ready.”
A few minutes later the chief engineer called back. There was still no word from the British captain. “I’m ready whenever you are captain. I’ve set the emitter for a power level forty percent higher than the maximum rated. Any higher and we run the risk of instantly burning out the emitter.”
“Very well chief. Coordinate with tactical and get me a scan of those ships.”
The captain got up from his chair and walked over to the tactical station. The operator was speaking softly into his headset microphone. A moment later, a red warning flashed on the system monitor panel indicating an overload condition. At first, nothing on the display changed. The computer still showed unreadable data next to the three incoming targets. Then, as the computer managed to receive more detail, the filtering algorithms began to produce some meaningful results. The exact mass appeared first, followed by the dimensions. Four seconds later the computer had a profile of one of the ships and identified it as a Chinese heavy cruiser.
“Chinese?” the captain exclaimed the moment the ship had been identified. “The computer must be confused by…”
The computer had identified the second ship and it also registered as a Chinese heavy cruiser. A second later the system monitor displayed another warning indicating that the sensor emitter had failed. The captain stared dumbfounded at the tactical display for two seconds. Coming to his senses he yelled, “Battle stations!”, sprang back toward his command chair, and slammed his fist down on the general quarters alarm.
“Helm, emergency thrust! Get us away from those ships. Communications, send a distress to fleet command informing them we are under attack by three Chinese heavy cruisers. Weapons, target those ships and standby to fire.”
The captain was furious with himself. He had been caught off-guard and deep within a planet’s gravity well. Even though he was in command of an upgraded UAN cruiser, he doubted his ship was a match for three heavy cruisers. He also doubted he could outrun them given the current tactical situation.
The moment the UAN cruiser broke orbit, the Chinese ships realized their ploy had been discovered. The jamming signal rose in power and all communications and sensor channels became an impenetrable haze of noise. The three ships also altered course and speed to intercept the fleeing UAN cruiser.
“How long to intercept?”
“Roughly eighteen minutes before they are in weapons range captain.”
“How long before we can engage stardrive?”
“Twenty six minutes minimum before we are far enough away from the planet.”
“Damn! Engineering, bypass the safeties and boost our propulsion.”
“We are already at one hundred six percent captain. I don’t recommend going…”
“You heard me! Bypass the safeties and dump all available power into the drive.”
The engineer started to object, knowing the limits of the ship’s propulsion system. The helm, overhearing the captain’s orders, took the actions himself. For a brief moment the crew felt an increase in their weight as the ship’s acceleration exceeded the propulsion plant’s maximum design thrust. The engineer was yelling so loud that his voice was distorted over the intercom system. Suddenly, all acceleration ceased and a whole series of red alarms appeared on the helm’s system monitor.
“Helm—report!”
“Sublight drive has failed!”
The captain turned again to the still raging, red-faced, chief engineer. “SHUT UP!” he yelled. The stunned engineer stopped in mid-sentence. “Get the sublight engines back online immediately or we are all dead.”
The chief engineer wiped the sweat from his brow with his sleeve, glanced to his left for a moment, then replied in a very calm voice full of contempt, “In carrying out your last order, captain, the helm overloaded several sublight drive emitters and burned them out. I’m afrai
d we are now without any propulsion due to your incompetence.”
The captain stood up and glared at his chief engineer. “I will have you spaced for that remark. You are relieved of duty.”
“Captain—We are being hailed by the captain of one of the Chinese cruisers.”
“Ignore them,” he ordered. The captain then entered a command sequence into his console. A warning screen appeared which he cleared by saying, “Auto destruct authorization code seven, three, alpha, nine, seven, gamma, one, one, six, nine.”
Another screen then appeared in which the captain entered the number three. A confirmation screen appeared. The captain paused for a moment, glanced at the tactical screen and positioned his forefinger directly over the enter key on the keyboard.
Captain Ibrahim switched his monitor to the active communications channel. “This is Captain Ibrahim of the UAN cruiser Sawari. What is the meaning of this deception?”
“Captain Ibrahim. You are outgunned and unable to run. Lower your shield and surrender your vessel immediately. If you comply, I will guarantee the lives of your entire crew. Failure to comply will result in a tragic loss of your entire crew. If your shield is not lowered by the time I am within weapons range I shall open fire.”
Captain Ibrahim looked out over his bridge crew. They had all turned around in their seats and were staring at him. The tactical plot indicated that the Chinese cruisers would be in range in just under one minute. “Allah will reward us in the next life,” he muttered as his finger came down on the enter button.
A loud, obnoxious sounding alarm sounded for two seconds followed by an automated announcement. “Self destruct initiated. Time to self destruct, three minutes—mark.”
The captain took a deep breath, looked the tactical station operator directly in the eyes and said, “Lower our shield and power down all weapons.”
As the Chinese cruisers came into range they altered their formation slightly. Two ships took up stations on either side of the UAN vessel at a distance of 3,000 meters. The third ship moved in closer. Without warning, the closest cruiser opened fire on the UAN ship with one of its heavy lasers. The beam bored a hole into the unprotected ship’s armor near the mid-section.
Alarms sprang into existence on almost every console on the bridge. “Damage report!” yelled Captain Ibrahim.
There was a moment’s hesitation as the engineering station tried to sort through all the alarms. “Hull breach at frame 96 level eight section delta. Damage is being reported in multiple areas.”
“Show me,” Captain Ibrahim yelled as he jumped out of his chair and practically ran to the engineering station.
By the time he arrived, one of the monitors was displaying a three-dimensional image of the damage they had sustained. The captain stared at the screen with unbelieving eyes. The shot had been precisely aimed. The nuclear warhead that was to have destroyed the ship along with an many of the Chinese ships as possible was now a molten pool of metal.
“The captain of the Chinese ship is asking to speak with you sir.”
The captain balled up his fists and spouted a stream of cuss words as he made his way back to his command chair. He opened the communications channel and said, “I hope your government is ready to go to war captain.”
The voice on the other end was calm. “You did not seriously think that I would allow you to destroy such a valuable prize now did you captain? My sensors are capable of tracking each and every person aboard your vessel. You are to order all personnel to immediately assemble in your aft galley. Do so now.”
Captain Ibrahim set his jaw as he replied. “No. I will not allow this ship to fall into the hands of the Chinese. My crew will defend the property of the UAN to the death. If you want the secrets this ship contains, it will cost you dearly in Chinese blood.”
“Very well—the choice is yours.”
Captain Ibrahim was about to issue a command to his crew to raise their shield and begin destroying all sensitive equipment when the Chinese opened fire. The Chinese had prepared very well for this engagement. Their spies had given them detailed information concerning the interior layout of the UAN cruiser allowing them to precisely target any area within the ship. With pinpoint precision the Chinese quickly and efficiently incapacitated the UAN ship.
Their first shot took out the ship's shield generator power supply. The Chinese then concentrated on the crew turning most of them into charred remains. Those that had been spared were trapped in the few remaining areas of the ship that still had a sustainable atmosphere.
The Chinese boarding parties encountered virtually no resistance. An hour later, they had free access to all areas of the warship. Without wasting any time, they began to dismantle the ship’s stardrive, shield generator, and other tactical systems. The equipment was quickly transferred to the Chinese ships. Thirty-six hours later, the now gutted cruiser was vaporized by a thermonuclear explosion.
* * * * *
The UAN cruiser Karim, along with the four civilian ships it escorted, dropped into normal space and commenced their approach toward the target planet. Following standard protocol, the cruiser conducted a sweep of the system as the communications operator sent out a hail to the UAS Sawari.
“Captain, I am picking up a radioactive debris field bearing zero zero three mark zero four, distance three point eight million kilometers,” the tactical officer reported. “I am detecting no other ships in the system.”
“Communications, have you made contact with the Sawari” the captain asked.
“No sir. No response to our hails.”
“Sound general quarters. Order the civilian ships to immediately proceed to Aleph station. Helm, set course for the debris field. Tactical, full sweep of the system. Scan for any hidden hostiles.”
The civilian ships performed an emergency transition to FTL as ordered. The Karim altered course to approach the debris field as she rigged for battle.
Two hours later, the cruiser entered the field of expanding debris. “Based on the analysis we have performed using our sensors,” the tactical officer reported to the captain. “I believe the debris to be the remains of the Sawari. It was either destroyed by an unknown vessel or the captain initiated the self destruct to prevent it from falling into hostile hands.”
“Very well,” the captain replied. He turned to his computer terminal and entered a series of commands. After verifying his identity the computer displayed a series of numbers. “Communications, transmit a data recorder beacon activation signal. The unit code to use is one, three, six, one, nine, eight, seven, two, two. Utilize code group beta on frequency one six.”
The communications operator made the necessary adjustments and sent out the signal. A moment later, a signal from a locator beacon was heard. It took about thirty minutes for them to find the beacon and retrieve the data recorder. Its three centimeter armor casing was damaged but the data it contained was intact. A few minutes later, the captain was reviewing the last recorded moments of the Sawari. A few minutes after that, an urgent message was transmitted to UAN fleet command.
The message flashed through space at a speed of nearly nine thousand times that of light – the fastest speed at which a ship could hurl a signal. Thirty two hours and 32 light years later, it arrived at its destination. The message was decoded and routed to the appropriate department. The contents were read, the base was put on alert, and a new message was encoded and sent on its way to Earth. Four hours later it was received, decrypted, routed, and read.
The message was read again at an emergency meeting of the UAN cabinet. Within hours, the UAN military was put on alert and plans for a retaliatory strike were being made. War was inevitable as the gears of the UAN military machine started turning.
33
War!
The Chinese ships that had carried out the successful attack on the UAS Sawari triumphantly returned to their base. Moments after their arrival, a constant stream of shuttles transported the spoils of their attack to the surface. Teams of
eager scientists began the laborious process of disassembling the equipment that had been removed from the UAN ship. This work went on around the clock – the Chinese were anxious to get their hands on the advanced technology the UAN had stolen from the EDM.
In the base’s central operations center a deep space sensor suddenly flashed a warning message as it detected the drive wake of an incoming ship. The operator checked the summary screen then called the watch commander to his console. By the time the watch commander had arrived, three more ships coming from different directions had been detected. “You have something to report?”
“Yes sir. Four unknowns approaching from four different directions. Speed is currently 29c and decelerating. Drive wakes read as Human.” As the operator made his report two more blips appeared on the screen.
The watch commander looked at the readout for a couple seconds then reached for his communicator hanging from his belt. He unlocked the device and pressed a key. An alarm sounded throughout the entire base putting the base at battle stations. The commander then depressed a second key, held the device to his mouth and made a base-wide announcement. “Battle stations! This is not a drill. Fighter crews to your ships.” Turning to the communications console he ordered, “Send a message to fleet command informing them we are under attack.”
Card games were abandoned, meals were left sitting on the table, lovers separated and quickly dressed, offensive and defensive systems powered themselves up, the base prepared to defend itself. Several minutes after the sounding of the alarm, 23 sublight space fighters lifted off from the surface. As soon as the fighters were clear a silvery dome of force popped into existence over the base. The four heavy cruisers in orbit made similar preparations for battle.