Crap, thought the Admiral. I was hoping they would be out by now. But they could probably carry ten thousand of those things on that big bastard.
“I wonder why they’re not firing more of them?” asked the Helm Officer, keeping most of her attention locked on the ship’s course.
“They want to capture us,” said Singh. “At least one of us.”
Of course they do, thought Hasselhoff, studying the missiles that were coming in at forty-five hundred gravities. This would be the last volley the enemy would be able to fire before they reached normal space. When they jumped from VI to V anything accelerating after them would hit the barrier at too high a velocity. They didn’t seem to have sufficient hyperdrive capacity to jump between the higher dimensions of hyper, only enough to keep themselves in the dimension they had been launched in. And the battle cruisers would jump down to IV before the enemy ship could get into V to fire on them again.
The weapons came in, minutes before the Imperial ships were at the point where they had to jump. The ships were out of hyper capable counter missiles, and the lasers couldn’t generate a long enough hit to kill any of the weapons.
“To all ships,” yelled Hasselhoff. “Jump now. No questions, just do it.”
The lights dimmed as the rip in space opened to their front. The other ships opened their own holes, and all three slid down to V before the missile could reach them. They would have two more minutes in V than they would have had if they had waited the thirty seconds to jump at the barrier. She thought it worth it, as seconds later the Machine weapons catastrophically translated at the barrier.
Just keep following us, you son of a bitch, she thought as she continued to watch the huge ship trailing behind. By the time they were ready to jump down to IV, the enemy was translating into V. This went on all the way in, until the Imperial ships got to the last barrier and jumped into normal space. The radiation indicators jumped from low level to high enough to fry anything that was unshielded. The three ships were plowing through the infant nebula at point three light, and the self-generated particle radiation would have killed everyone aboard if not for the strong electromagnetic fields that were catching and deflecting ionized particles, while charging up some of the neutral atoms and molecules and pushing them away as well. A good number of neutrons and uncharged atoms were still coming through. The front sections of each vessel had been modified before they left the Klassekian system. For almost a hundred meters in every chamber that had not been necessary for the fighting of the ship had been flooded with water, adding to the material particle shielding.
And ahead of them, blurred by the space that still seemed clear at close range, but foggy over the distance, was the monster that now inhabited a system of its own. They really couldn’t see the hole from where they were, not even the distortion in space that bent light around it. What they could see was the glowing ring of matter swirling around the gravity source. Trillions of megatons of matter in an enormous whirlpool spinning around the hole, huge quantities pulled over the event horizon every second, sending out torrents of radiation that added to the heat going into the surrounding gas.
“That accretion disc is radiating millions of degrees,” said the Sensor Officer, her eyes wide in disbelief. “How are we supposed to get close to that thing”
“We’ll figure that out when we get there,” said Hasselhoff, her eyes locked on the white hot jets of matter firing from the top and the bottom of the hole, matter compressed and accelerated out before it could go over the event horizon. It was fortunate for the Klassekian system that the jets of high velocity particles were not oriented in its direction. Otherwise, they would be in the firing line of what was essentially a huge particle beam. If only we could use that against them. But I doubt they’re going to be that stupid.
“Wormhole launched, ma’am,” called out the Tactical Officer. A small icon appeared on the plot, acceleration figures over a thousand gravities showing below it. They were tracking it by the ship’s sensors, and it had only been under way for minutes before disappeared from the plot, untrackable. The hole was propelled by a jet of relativistic particles shot out of its opening from the other side, guided by someone on that same side.
I hope this works, thought Hasselhoff, looking at the projected track of the small object on the plot. If not, we might have come a long way to die.
The ships continued on into the system, accelerating at their damage stimulating level. Point four light was as far as the Admiral was willing to push it in this space, and the closer they got to the hole, the worse the particle radiation would become. She looked back at the following behemoth, sighing in relief as she saw it was still on a steady course to follow them into the system. Not so smart, are you, Machine? she thought. And I don’t need to get so arrogant in my organic superiority.
“We have translation behind us,” called out the Sensor Officer, as the enormous graviton wave swept over them, the sign of the massive object that had just come through.
And I wonder what it is seeing now, thought the Admiral. Is it looking at the black hole in wonder, in awe, or in fear Or is it just another phenomenon to analyze and file away in its memory.
“It’s firing again, ma’am,” called out the Tactical Officer. “Fifty weapons. I don’t think they want us to go into that irradiated hell.”
And now we get to find out if what we thought would happen will happen, she thought, watching as the enemy weapons came after them over the half light hour of distance. The weapons accelerated at forty-five hundred gravities, their maximum, building up velocity and gaining by the second.
“Impact in one hour, fifteen minutes,” called out Singh. “Absolute system velocity point five nine light. Closing velocity, point two three light.”
“Not very fast,” said the Exec over the com from CIC. “If they were our missiles, they would be easy meat.”
“But they aren’t our missiles, XO. They can take a lot of laser energy and keep on going.” But can they handle long exposure to other forms of energy.
“Two enemy missiles are veering off course, ma’am,” called out Sngh. “Another one. Both are losing acceleration.”
The Admiral watched over the next ten minutes as all of the missiles lost acceleration. Their grabbers didn’t malfunction all at once, so they all ended up veering off onto random courses.
“They couldn’t handle the radiation, ma’am,” said the smiling Tactical Officer.
That had been the hoped for outcome in this system, filled as it was with abnormally high concentrations of gas. The radiation really couldn’t do much to mechanical parts, and grabbers were notoriously tough assemblies. Cybernetic brains were not, and the weapons were too small to carry really heavy particle shielding. Add that onto the fact that they were pushing into the self-generated particle stream at over half light speed, and those brains had fried out.
“We have more weapons launch,” said the Tactical Officer. “I guess they didn’t learn.”
“Or they’re testing the hypothesis, verifying what we already know,” replied the Helm Officer.
“They can test all they want,” said the Admiral, letting herself relax just a little. “Still, we need to remember that that ship is also a damned factory, very capable of modifying their weapons if they can come up with a solution to the problem. So everyone stay alert.” And now we see how patient you are, Machine. She hoped it was very patient. In fact, she was counting on it.
* * *
SUPERSYSTEM
“That’s really all we can afford to give them, your Majesty,” said Grand Fleet Admiral Cecil McGraff to the man he had sworn his current oaths of duty to. “It’s over a third of what I have in my sector fleet. Any more, and I won’t be able to adequately patrol my own space lanes.”
Sean looked over the order of battle that the Sector commander had sent him over the com holo. It looked powerful on the holo, at least until one thought about the damned planet killer the Machines were said to be using. And there
was evidence that at least one more of the monsters was on the loose out there on the frontier.
The proposed reinforcements included two superbattleships and eighteen squadrons of the standard, fifteen million ton battleships, all hyper VI. That was a total of fifty-six heavy warships, not really much of a fleet for the main front of the war, but a considerable force for the far sector that Bolthole was centered in. Also included was a scout force of twelve squadrons of battlecruisers, forty-eight of the vessels, giving the force a total of one hundred and four capital ships. The one problem the Emperor saw with the force composition was the lack of hyper VII ships, which would be needed in a fight covering such great distances, and a great advantage against an opponent that could only transit VI.
One hundred and fifty heavy cruisers, he thought, looking over the list of shipping. Two hundred and twenty light cruisers, and four hundred and eighty destroyers. Almost a thousand ships.
“And you will note, your Majesty, that they are all warships, not exploration vessels like the majority of ships already out there. They will all have full missile magazines, and we can ship out enough reloads to keep them going through several major actions.”
“I can understand you wanting to keep as many escort and patrol vessels as you can, Admiral,” said Sean, keeping his voice level so as not to let his nerves make him say something he would regret later. “Your sector is quiet at this time. The only powers fronting your sector are the Elysium Empire and the Crakistas, both of which are our allies.”
“We still have pirates, your Majesty, which have become a plague since the war started. And the long frontier with unincorporated space.”
“From which the Machines will be coming if we don’t stop them out there on that frontier,” said Sean. “Your sector has a total of over two hundred battleships. I want at least half of them cut loose for deployment to the Bolthole sector.”
“But, I don’t think we can handle our own security concerns if we lose that many capital ships, your Majesty.”
“Then I will get you some replacements from the bordering sectors, Admiral.”
“And when will that be, your Majesty.”
“When we can get them to you, Admiral McGraff,” growled Sean, his eyes narrowing. “Right now we need ships out there on the frontier. So you will follow my orders and send thirty-four squadrons of hyper VI battleships along with those two supers. I also want you to cut loose all of the hyper VII ships you have, every battle cruiser, light cruiser and destroyer.”
“But, your Majesty.”
“There will be no discussion of this point, Admiral. You don’t need the VIIs as much as they need them, so I want all of them sent out there.”
“Very well, your Majesty. I will send them instead of the other battle cruisers, light cruisers and destroyers.”
“No, Admiral. You will add them to the list of those ships you were already going to send.”
The Admiral looked like he was in shock at having so many ships stripped from his command. Well, tough shit, thought Sean. Those ships were in that sector, under the command of that flag officer, because the Fleet that the Emperor was in charge of said they were assigned there.
“Very well, your Majesty,” said the Admiral in a low voice, nodding. “I will begin the transfer immediately.”
“Gather them together and hold them in your capital system until further notice, Admiral,” ordered the Emperor. “We have yet to set up a ship gate to that region, but it should be up and running soon.”
The Emperor killed the com link, shaking his head again. Why do I have so much trouble getting my Admirals to obey me, he thought, then amended that. No, they obey me. But only after as much argument as they can get away with. Now for the next argument.
Sean sent out the command over his implant, activating the com.
“Your Majesty,” said the woman on the other end of the com when the link was established.
“Sondra. I need to know when we can establish those gates out to the Bolthole sector.”
“I have the materials on hand to open one tomorrow, your Majesty. Do you still want it opened at Klassek?”
“I think that would be best. Unless there is something that I don’t know about.”
“Unfortunately, your Majesty, one of the wormholes that was sent to Exploration Command Base, that was forwarded to Klassek, is no longer in that system.”
“And what happened to it?”
“It was sent on the flagship of the force that was sent to defend that star on a combat strike against the Machine planter killer.”
“And why wasn’t I informed of this, Admiral?”
“We can’t bother you with every operational decision on every front, your Majesty,” said McCullom, the CNO. “I understand that you want to be kept in the loop on the strategic considerations of each front, but even I don’t interfere with the on the spot decisions of the tactical commanders. The wormholes give us too much of a temptation to micromanage, and the decision was made to not do so. Our job is to get the commanders in the field what they need to win, and give them strategic direction, not to tell them how to engage the ships they are trying to kill. And if I recall correctly, your Majesty, that was something you signed off on as well.”
“Touché, Admiral,” said Sean with a smile. “So, when will that wormhole be back in the Klassek system?”
“I can’t tell you, your Majesty. I really can’t tell you if it will ever get back to that system. The defense force is, after all, fighting one of those planet killers.”
My God, what a fuck up, thought Sean, shaking his head. If they had kept the wormhole there, we could have it open by tomorrow, and send them a battle fleet. Now there’s no wormhole in that system to open into a ship gate. And we might lose that system because people didn’t think long term.
Sean knew he couldn’t run the whole war effort by himself, though it was sometimes tempting to try. And then he would become exhausted and make as many or more mistakes as the people under him.
“OK. Here’s what we are going to do, Sondra. I want the gate opened up to Bolthole as fast as you can. Tomorrow, you said? Then, I want you to gather the negative matter for the second gate as soon as possible, no later than a week from today.”
“And we will use it for what, your Majesty?”
“To open up the gate up to Klassek, if it’s still there.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And I want you to get as many hyper VII ships as you can spare for redeployment to Bolthole sector. Including some battleships. And another twenty wormholes, ten to back here, ten with both ends packaged.”
McCullom looked shocked as she returned his regard back through the holo. “We really don’t have many VIIs to spare, your Majesty. The Cacas…”
“Are not currently in our space. And once we have them fully ejected from the space of the other nations of this region, I think we will have a respite of at least three months. Right now I need ships out there at Bolthole. We’ll worry about what we need in Sector IV when we have signs of them coming back.”
“Yes, sir. Anything else”
“I would like to get some fleet carriers and attack wings out there as well, Admiral. And I would really be pleased if we could get at least a couple wings of inertialess fighters on that front.”
“Your, Majesty…”
“Look, Admiral. These damned Machines are our responsibility. I want us to deploy enough force to stop them in their tracks before they render that sector empty of life. I do not want to have us live with a future where our creations have killed off an entire region’s life forms. So see to it.”
“Yes, your Majesty.”
“And Admiral. How is Admiral Bednarczyk working out?”
“So far so good, your Majesty. She fought off a Machine assault on Bolthole. She is a smart, aggressive commander. That was never the question. It’s only that she lacks diplomacy and decorum.” The Admiral stopped talking for a moment, obviously thinking, then looked up again. “
I’m glad now that we could give her a second chance, your Majesty. She’s a good combat commander, and I was happy we could send someone like her out there without weakening our other commands.”
“Good. Then I want you to keep me informed about anything going on in that sector. Not to micromanage, but to make sure that their needs do not fall through the cracks. Understood, Admiral?”
“Understood, your Majesty.”
Sean severed the connection and sat back in his chair. A headache was coming on, something he had never had to deal with before ascending to the throne. His physician had told him it was nothing serious, only a manifestation of stress. He rubbed his temples as he thought about that stress, and about the system that was causing it.
If only I could have learned this job without a war in the background, he thought. In peacetime the job of Emperor was still important, as the head of state, the mediator of Parliament, the titular head of the military, even if it wasn’t his to command in totality. In wartime, he became the leader of the Empire in all respects. Commander in Chief of the military, Chief of State, Coordinator of Parliament. There was a reason for that. One person in charge, so there was no confusion about what needed to be done. But the weight of the Universe was on that one person’s shoulders. A trillion lives, all depending on him.
And it’s not bad enough that I have one war. A war that will decide the fate of my Empire. Now I have another dropped in my lap, and the possibility of yet another front, on the other side of the Caca Empire.
Sean shook his head again, clearing his mind. He didn’t have time to bemoan his fate as the most powerful man in human space. He had a responsibility, lest his people fail in their fight for survival. Pulling up the computer database, he got his mind back on the problems he could deal with.
Chapter Twenty
I would rather die a meaningful death than to live a meaningless life.
Corazon Aquino
NEAR BIG BASTARD, MAY 3RD, 1002.
“Radiation is off the charts, ma’am,” reported the Sensor Officer, his face a mask of anxiety and concern. “Other than that, I can’t tell you how hot it is out there.”
Exodus: Machine War: Book 2: Bolthole Page 26