“What about these other two?” Paxton asked. “I ran out of room and had to put two on the back.”
Calvin flipped the paper over and looked at the final two entries. A triumphant smile grew across his face.
“Is one of them the radio cable?” Paxton asked.
“No,” said Calvin. “It’s even better.” He pointed to the final entry. “This one is for the shield generators.”
Conference Room, Mrowry Ship Night Hunter, HD 40307 System, December 17, 2021
“Thank you very much for meeting with us, Admiral Krrower,” Captain Sheppard said to the large, all-black Mrowry sitting at the head of the table. In addition to the admiral who commanded the fleet, the commanding officer of the dreadnought Night Hunter and the three battleship captains were also in attendance. Captain Sheppard was joined at his end of the table by Night, Lieutenant Commander Brighton and Lieutenant Rrower.
“You’re welcome,” the admiral replied, “although I am afraid your journey has been for naught. My son tells me you want us to move forward to protect the remaining Ssselipsssiss; that isn’t going to happen.”
“May I ask why, sir, since you haven’t even heard my reasoning as to why I think that course of action makes the most sense?”
“The Ssselipsssiss are our enemies. I have lost too many of my brothers and sisters to even consider providing them aid against their new enemy.”
“The admiral’s right,” one of the battleship captains agreed. “Let them bleed each other to the end; that way, there are fewer for us to have to fight.” The other captains signaled their approval by banging their fists on the table.
“As you can see,” the admiral noted, “there is very little love lost between our societies. It is survival of the fittest…and they were obviously not worthy of survival.”
“What if the roles were reversed?” Captain Sheppard asked. “What if your civilization was about to be wiped out, and the Ssselipsssiss were the only ones who could offer you aid? Wouldn’t you go to them if the survival of your race was at stake?”
“I would not!” Admiral Krrower stated. “I am fully aware of the consequences of such an action. The Ssselipsssiss would betray us at the first opportunity, which would result in the destruction of the Mrowry even sooner than if we didn’t have their ‘help.’ No thank you. I would not ask for their aid, nor do I intend to give them mine. This ship was built to destroy Ssselipsssiss, not protect them.”
“I understand,” Captain Sheppard said. Realizing there was no use pursuing that line of argument, he tried another tact. “My real question is less about the Ssselipsssiss than it is about the future of the Mrowry.”
“We have a great future,” Captain Twanx, the CO of the Night Hunter, interjected. “Our enemy is being wiped out for us. We are secure in our defenses, and we don’t have to lift a paw to help.”
“If only that were true,” Captain Sheppard said.
“What do you mean?” Admiral Krrower asked.
“I mean you have to look at recent history. The Mrowry and the Ssselipsssiss were enemies who fought their way to a draw after decades of fighting. You have similar technology and were equally matched; a stalemate existed between your civilizations prior to the advent of the Shaitans.”
“So?”
“So? The Shaitans came, and they rolled up the entire Ssselipsssiss Empire in just a few years. They succeeded where you couldn’t, and they did so completely and expeditiously. The Ssselipsssiss were barely a speedbump in the road.”
“I’m sorry, that word didn’t translate,” Captain Twanx interrupted. “What is a ‘speedbump’?”
“A speedbump is a Terran device to slow down a vehicle driving on the surface of a planet. The Ssselipsssiss didn’t slow down the Shaitans at all; the Shaitans drove right through the Ssselipsssiss Empire from one end to the other, without ever being stopped. Until their final battle, the lizards hadn’t even destroyed a single Shaitan ship!”
“That won’t happen to us, though,” Admiral Krrower said. “Our defenses here are strong.”
“I’m sorry, father, but I must respectfully disagree,” Lieutenant Rrower said. “I have seen the Shaitans in battle. A combination Shaitan/Jotunn fleet blew through Aesir defenses much stronger than the ones here, as if they were only cubs’ toys, not ships of war. The Shaitans are able to jump back and forth to the universe from which they hail; they are nearly impossible to destroy and have nearly unstoppable weapons. If they can do it against the Ssselipsssiss, the Shaitans stand a good chance of being able to do it to us, too.”
“And without much of a buffer zone,” Captain Sheppard added, “the Shaitans will be within range of your populated planets in no time.”
“Son, no disrespect intended, but if the Shaitans were so overwhelmingly powerful, how is it you were able to survive? Did you run from them?”
“No, father, the Terrans fought alongside the Aesir although their fleet was destroyed as thoroughly as the Aesir’s. The only ship that survived was the Vella Gulf, and only because it is able to jump between the universes like the Shaitans. Were it not for the Terrans, the Aesir civilization would have been destroyed.”
The admiral turned to stare at Captain Sheppard. “We need this technology that allows you to jump between the universes,” he said.
“I have already given it to your emperor,” Captain Sheppard replied. “You’ll have ships that can go up against the Shaitans, but you need to give your shipbuilding industry time to produce them. In addition to the technology, you also need metal from the other universe to make the jump modules work. Your emperor has sent a ship to Terra to get some, but that will take time, too. You have to give the emperor the time he needs.”
“And how do you suggest I do that?” the admiral asked. “You just said my ships and defenses here are worthless; what would you recommend I do to delay the Shaitans?”
“You need to take the fight to the enemy,” Captain Sheppard said. “Your forces need to advance into Ssselipsssiss territory and provide the speedbump the Ssselipsssiss couldn’t. The longer you delay them, the more prepared your fleet will be when they arrive in force.”
“I don’t understand your logic, Terran,” the admiral replied. “How will advancing into the lizards’ territory to throw away our fleet sooner help us delay them? If my fleet is destroyed, there is little to stand in the Shaitans’ way until we can bring forward or redistribute other units of our fleet. What do you know that will help us make the loss of my fleet a worthwhile sacrifice?”
“I know that we will be right there alongside you. Your fleet is big enough to take on any conventional fleet, and we’ll handle the Shaitans. By pushing the boundaries of Mrowry space forward, we can buy your emperor the time he needs.”
“You will fight with us?” the admiral asked. “To the death?”
Captain Sheppard could feel the tide turn, but there wasn’t time to contact Fleet Command for authorization. The choice was his. But then again, there really wasn’t any choice. “Yes, we will,” he said, standing up. “We will stand by you in the battle to come. To the death if necessary.”
The admiral also stood and crossed to Captain Sheppard, drawing a small knife as he approached. He cut a three-inch slice in the side of his arm and then drew the blade across the palm of his paw without flinching. The Mrowry spun the knife in its paw and handed it to Captain Sheppard, butt-first.
Gritting his teeth, the Vella Gulf’s CO made the same cuts, and the Mrowry reached out to take the Terran’s arm in a hand-to-forearm grip. “You are blood of my blood,” the admiral intoned. “We are brothers and will stand together. Should you fall, my claws will defend you until you can rise; should you not rise, I will avenge you to my last breath. To the end!”
Captain Sheppard nodded. “To the end.”
Ducts, Jotunn Ship Falcon, Unknown System, December 17, 2021
“There it is,” Paxton said, pointing at a thin cable that ran from the bridge below them toward the bow of the ship.
“That’s even better than I hoped,” Calvin said. “That’s the control cable for turning the shields on and off, not the power cable. If it were the power cable, it would have been a lot bigger and harder to work with, to say nothing about how dangerous it would have been if we’d had to cut it. But this? This is going to work nicely.”
“Are you going to cut it?” Burkuri asked.
“No,” Calvin said. “They may have some sort of maintenance robot they can send down the cable runs. We have to make it look accidental in case they come looking. Let’s see if we can find a junction box we can pull the wire out of. We can make it look like it fell out.”
“But if they have a robot that can fix it, won’t they send the robot? Then, once it’s fixed, the Jotunn won’t have a reason to leave the system, right? Isn’t that the whole idea?”
“Well, yeah, it is, but maybe they won’t have a robot.”
“Okay…” Burkuri didn’t sound convinced.
Calvin wasn’t convinced, either, but wasn’t going to say so. “So let’s see if there’s a junction box.”
Three hours later, they hadn’t found a junction box for either that cable or the other forward shield control cable they found.
“So, what now?” Burkuri asked.
“Paxton, do you have another one of those little animals? We could have it gnaw through the cable, and it would look like a mouse chewed its way through. That’s better than just cutting it.”
“No, I only had the one risst, and the bug ate it.”
“Damn.” This was getting harder and harder.
“I have a small set of clippers I can use to make it look like something ate the wire if you’d like,” Paxton said. “If I do it right, it will look like a number of small bites were taken out of the cable.”
“Well, why didn’t you say so?”
“You never asked.”
Calvin sighed. “Yes, I would like you to do that. Please.”
“Before he does,” Burkuri said, “what if a maintenance robot shows up? We can’t let it see us, or they’re going to know we’re up here in the ducting and come looking for us. Also, what if it fixes the wire? We’re back where we started.”
“We need something that’s going to trap and destroy any maintenance robots the Jotunn send,” Calvin said. “But it has to be disguised so they can’t tell what happened.”
“If you let me have the battery from your space suit, I can do that,” Syrusss said. “Nothing could be easier.”
Chapter Fourteen
Ducts, Jotunn Ship Falcon, Unknown System, December 17, 2021
“That’s it,” Syrusss said. “One robot trap, ready to go.”
Calvin looked down the duct and shook his head. “I don’t get it,” he said. “I see the wire hanging from the ceiling, but even if there’s current running through it, it’s never going to work; any robot is going to see it sticking out a long time before it runs into it.”
“It’s supposed to see that wire,” Syrusss said. “The real wires are disguised on the sides of the duct. See that slightly discolored square of metal?”
Calvin nodded. “Yeah, I didn’t notice it before, but I can see it’s a little different.”
“That’s because there’s a thin, non-conductive mat there. The robot will see that the wire hanging down has been gnawed before it gets onto the mat. That will give more credibility to the story there’s something up here chewing on the cables.”
“Nice touch,” Calvin said.
“Thanks,” Syrusss said with the Ssselipsssiss version of a smile. “As the robot approaches the wire, it hits the trigger in the mat and two leads spring out from the sides of the duct. The robot completes the circuit, and current flows through it. The robot’s electronics fry, hopefully enough for a complete mission kill.”
“Do you think it will work?”
“If everything works right, the robot is going to get hit with about 100,000 volts. 4,000 volts might be enough to kill it, but we also need enough power to push the current, as a transitory high voltage might not sustain the current enough to burn up a robot. Unfortunately, we don’t know how it’s designed, so I had to incorporate a couple of extra features.”
“Like what?”
“Well, current causes strong magnetic fields, and any decent maintenance robot will have sensors for that. Therefore, I needed to either build a trap where the robot’s contact completed the circuit or have a remote initiation of current in a previously dead circuit. Since we couldn’t be around, the second option was out.”
“That makes sense,” Calvin said.
“Second, in addition to the ability to sense current, any good maintenance robot will have internal insulation and a variety of safeties and fail safes. I’m sure the Jotunn don’t want to have to climb up here to get a failed robot, so they won’t want it to fail. Thus, trying to fry the robot is more difficult than having it simply roll across a metal floor with a big charge applied to it. Its treads are probably non-conductive, so any charge would be unlikely to hurt it; such an event would be likely in its normal duties and its design would take that into account. Therefore, the circuit path across the robot has to include its vital spots, which are probably in its upper housing. Without knowing what the robot looks like, I don’t know where those areas are, so I had to guess at what height to set the leads. Hopefully, the trap will work.”
“What are the odds it will?”
“Without seeing the robot, I couldn’t begin to guess. I don’t know how well the Jotunn have hardened its circuits; it’s possible it may survive. If it does, though, it’s still going to know there are some major stray voltage problems up here. With the failure of the shields, as well…hopefully that will be enough for the Jotunn commander to decide he needs a shipyard to look at it.”
“Well done,” Calvin said. “How did you put all that together?”
“It was just some equipment I had I could repurpose. Don’t ask if you don’t want to know.”
“Do I want to know?”
“No.”
“Okay,” Calvin said, “I won’t ask. I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know why you’d want to deliver a large amount of electricity or have non-conductive padding.” He shuddered as he looked around at the assembled group. “Let me tell the bugs to stay away, and we’ll get started.”
Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, Kepler-62 System, December 18, 2021
“We will go in first, take a look around, and then will return and report,” Captain Sheppard said, looking up at the faces of the Mrowry officers on the main viewing screen, “that way you know what you’re getting into and don’t go charging into something you can’t get back out of.”
“Very well,” Admiral Krrower replied. “We will mine the stargate on this side while we await your return. The more defenses we put into place now, the easier the systems will be to defend if the enemy’s forces are too great, and we are forced to retreat.”
“A sound plan sir,” Captain Sheppard replied. “Vella Gulf out.” He switched off the display, terminating the transmission, and the view on the screen changed to the emptiness of the stargate, just in front of the ship. He scanned the bridge; everyone seemed ready. “All ahead slow. Once we’re on the other side, engage stealth and jump to the Jinn Universe.”
“All ahead slow,” the helmsman repeated, “and jump to the Jinn Universe once we’re on the other side.”
“Stealth once we’re there,” the duty engineer added.
The helmsman looked at his readout. “Stargate in three seconds,” he said. “Here we go…”
Overhead the Bridge, Jotunn Ship Falcon, Unknown System, December 17, 2021
“We’re ready,” Syrusss whispered.
Calvin nodded and took a final look down onto the bridge. Everything seemed normal. Most of the crew was watching the front view screen while trying to look like they weren’t. Calvin couldn’t see what was on the screen from his vantage point, but it was something that had disturbed the battle-hardened Jo
tunn crew when it first appeared.
Calvin crawled back from the grate to where they could talk without the bridge crew hearing.
“Cut the wire and get out of the way,” Calvin ordered. “I’m going to stay and watch their reaction. Whatever you do, don’t let the Jotunn catch sight of you.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Syrusss replied. “I talked with the bugs, and they can tell when a robot’s coming. They’ll let me know which way to go.”
“They’re sure?”
“Yes. They can feel the vibration of the treads long before the robot can see them.”
“Okay,” Calvin agreed. “Go ahead and cut the wire.”
Without a word, the Ssselipsssiss left on his mission. Calvin didn’t have to wait long until a Jotunn’s head snapped up. Over several days watching, Calvin had determined the position the Jotunn was manning was responsible for operating the vessel’s defensive systems.
“Sir!” the operator exclaimed. “We just lost the forward shields on the starboard side. I have tried cycling them, but they remain out.”
“Gah,” Captain Magnusson said. “Get maintenance to send a robot to track down the cause. We haven’t heard anything from the Ssselipsssiss. They may be planning a final counter-offensive. We need to be ready. I want the shields back up now!”
Chapter Fifteen
Overhead the Bridge, Jotunn Ship Falcon, Unknown System, December 18, 2021
“The second maintenance robot has corrected the problem,” the defensive systems operator reported.
The plan had worked as well as Calvin could have hoped. The trap had fried the robot, but the giants had a second robot. The replacement robot had come a different way and avoided the trap, which Syrusss had disassembled and removed when the bug scouts passed the word.
“What was the source of the failure?” asked Captain Magnusson.
The Dark Star War (Codex Regius Book 3) Page 10