21
"Position confirmed … we're in the Epsilon System within six hundred kilometers of our target, Captain."
"Thank you, Chief," Jackson said. "Tactical, begin passive scans. OPS, how soon on engines?"
"Three minutes for the field arrays to stabilize, sir," Lieutenant Hori said.
"Tell Commander Walsh as soon as I have the RDS available he is clear to begin his work on the warp drive," Jackson said.
"Aye, sir," Hori said, clearly confused.
Walsh had gone over the data provided three times and could find no flaws with the math that would allow them to hop around within a system and had agreed to load the patches into the appropriate black boxes. The caveat was that in order to use the system, the Cube would have to provide all navigation inputs directly to the drive as the human operators had neither the precision nor the training to safely pull it off. At this point, Jackson felt he could trust the Cube completely even though it would still need to be closely monitored to rein in its natural exuberance so the risk was minimized.
"Definite Darshik ships’ activity close to the third planet, sir," Accari reported. "So far the computers are matching the thermal signatures with standard cruiser-type ships."
"We won't know for certain if our target is here until our engines are up and running and he's actually moving," Jackson said. "In the meantime, keep to passively observing."
"Captain, we're getting a channel request via com laser … it's a Fleet signal," Lieutenant Makers spoke up. "Correction, it's not a channel request, it's just an incoming message."
"From whom?" Chambliss asked. "CIS bring a Prowler out here and not tell anybody?"
"It's possible," Jackson said. "Send it to my terminal when it's fully received, decrypted, and verified."
"Aye, sir. It's coming your way now," Makers said.
Jackson opened the message and almost couldn't believe what he was reading.
Captain Wolfe,
The Aludra Star arrived in-system approximately four days ago flying directly from the Juwel System. We were given specific navigational data from the classified AI system you have aboard and asked to come here and deploy Starburst. All twenty-seven of our sleds have been deployed and have so far not been detected. We've been observing the formations below and can confirm the Specter is not among them, nor has that particular ship made an appearance since we've been here. However, there is what appears to be a Terran vessel of unknown configuration that I'm sending with the accompanying data, as well as seventeen Darshik cruisers. Be advised that the enemy has mined the jump point you emerged from. We've mapped it out and will send you the most probable safe path through. We're standing by to render assistance when you need it.
Captain Michael Barrett
CO, TFS Aludra Star
"Cube, would you care to explain what a semi-obsolete Black Fleet assault carrier is doing in this system?" Jackson asked.
"I have been impressed with the destructive potential of Captain Barrett's Starburst proposal," the Cube answered. "The odds were high that this system held an insurmountable number of lesser ships you would have to fight through in order to get to the Specter. Captain Barrett's sleds, even loaded with non-nuclear Shrikes, negates the enemy's numerical advantage."
"You've yet again put an unacceptable number of spacers' lives at risk based on your cold arithmetic," Jackson said, knowing the argument was moot at this point. "The Star doesn't have the speed or weaponry to be considered survivable in a fight with up to seventeen cruisers."
"The Starburst system is more than capable of defending the Aludra Star and providing the Nemesis—"
"Enough!" Jackson cut the Cube off. "What do you make of the supposed Terran ship they sent data over on?"
"I am ninety-six-percent certain that particular ship is a newer class of ESA frigate," the Cube said.
"What?!" Chambliss almost came out of his seat. "Is it a derelict?"
"Negative, Commander," the Cube continued. "The data from the Aludra Star's passive array shows the ship is under its own power and appears undamaged. The ship's presence shifts the odds of the missing human personnel from the Specter attacks being alive to over seventy percent."
"The sons of bitches have been working with the Darshik the entire time … sir," Accari said, his mouth hanging open. "That's how the Specter has been able to find and target so many classified facilities."
"Agreed," Jackson said, his right cheek twitching and his face flushing. "And putting two and two together, I think we have to assume Tsuyo Corporation is also aware of this. Based on intel I received before we departed home, it looks like Tsuyo has been funneling classified information to the ESA, which then ended up in the hands of the Darshik."
"Fucking human collaborators?" Chambliss's tight voice indicated he was feeling the same level of rage his captain was.
"Okay … this is unexpected, but let's compartmentalize things and focus on the task at hand," Jackson said, shaking his head as if the action would clear it of the unwanted distractions.
"Nav, plot us a course through the mines and let's get moving. Helm, ahead one-third when you get it … we'll do this slow and steady."
"From the data we received it looks like the mine field wasn't completed," Accari said. "There are huge gaps and most are concentrated down and to port relative to our position."
"Could it have already collected a few incoming ships?" Chambliss asked.
"Unlikely, sir," Accari answered. "There's no localized debris to indicate a starship was damaged or destroyed near here."
The Nemesis pushed ahead gently, Specialist Healy making smooth, sweeping turns to keep the maximum space possible between the ship and the mines. As Jackson looked at the scaled representation on the main display he could see his tactical officer's point: The field looked like it had just been started and there were gaps big enough for a fleet carrier to get through safely. He puzzled over the field for a moment before he figured out why it was incomplete: The ESA ship flying in formation below them held the answer.
The Darshik had probably begun mining known Terran jump points into their space and then abandoned the effort when a deal was struck with the ESA to provide support and intel in the war against the Federation. The ESA ships must have had a warp lane into the Tango System and then used the same jump points the Federation ships had during the first ill-fated sojourn into Darshik territory. The idea that a human faction that was, essentially, squabbling over political semantics regarding the Phage War would willingly sell their own species out in order to gain some sort of advantage made his blood boil.
But was it really so outlandish? The ESA propaganda clearly showed they blamed Starfleet, and Wolfe in particular, for starting the Phage War since he was the poor dumb bastard that had stumbled across them in the first place. The Darshik were aware that a human had destroyed the Phage core mind and the ESA had likely given them his name as the one responsible. It was disquieting to think that so much death and destruction was centered around his own actions, justified or not.
"We've cleared the field, sir," Accari reported.
"Cube, do you have the data for the Starburst deployment?" Jackson asked.
"Displaying it now," the Cube said. Twenty-seven green icons winked into existence on the main display and Jackson could see immediately they had roughly sixty percent coverage over the system given what he already knew about the range of the Shrikes. He also saw that Barrett had stacked his sleds above and below the ecliptic, which would decrease their effective range on ships flying along on that plane but decreased the likelihood of them being directly observed.
Starburst had been the brainchild of Michael Barrett once he'd taken command of the Aludra Star. As an assault carrier, she was tasked with the specific purpose of deploying loaded drop shuttles to support surface warfare operations. Barrett had realized immediately that it was rare that the ship would be needed in its intended capacity and that he was more than likely looking at a long stint as a cargo c
aptain. When assault carriers weren't needed in war, they were used to ferry normal freight when CENTCOM didn't feel like waiting for a scheduled Merchant Fleet ship.
The basics of the system were that instead of twenty-seven heavy drop shuttles, the Star would carry semi-autonomous "sleds" that each held twelve Shrike II ship buster missiles. The sleds could be deployed around a system and then, accepting targeting data from any Federation ship that had the proper access codes, could command a fire mission from any sled that was in the vicinity of their target. Once Fleet grasped that Barrett was taking what many considered an obsolete class of ship and making it a force multiplier with a minimal amount of retrofit he was given all the approvals and funding he needed. He'd now get to see how Starburst performed in a real-world, live-fire test thanks to the Cube's meddling. But, nuclear or not, Jackson wouldn't turn down an extra three hundred and twenty-four Shrikes when he was outnumbered nearly twenty to one.
"The encryption codes to access each sled's targeting systems were also sent," the Cube said. "I will ensure that Tactical has the appropriate codes when needed."
"Nav, plot a direct course down towards the third planet," Jackson ordered. "Let's continue running silent for now until we have confirmation the Darshik or the ESA have detected us. Right now it looks like they're either unaware or unconcerned … our transition flash would have been detected by now and we'd be seeing some sort of reaction."
"Course plotted and loaded, Captain."
"Helm, all ahead full," Jackson ordered. "There's nothing to be gained by prolonging this. Tactical, keep constant watch for the Specter. That ship is still the primary mission objective so let's not be distracted by the ESA frigate or all the cruisers loitering further down."
"Aye, sir," Accari said.
Jackson reviewed the condensed preliminary intel report on the star system that CIC had just sent directly to his terminal. The cruisers were in a dynamic formation that led his analysts to believe they were crewed ships and not more of the autonomous shells that the Darshik had loaded the Tango System with as cannon fodder. The report also included a short line, apparently added by the Cube, stating that it agreed with Hawkins's people and their conclusions.
After reading the analysis, he thought of something else that bothered him greatly. Pulling his terminal around, he sent a query directly to the network address CIC had established for the Cube: "Why did you not provide us with the same alternate navigation data that you gave the Aludra Star?"
"Due to the need to coordinate the arrival of both ships as closely as possible. Given the greater speed capability of the Nemesis, the Aludra Star had no choice but to take a shorter route."
Jackson stared at the response for a second, unsure how to take it. The risks the Cube had taken by sending the assault carrier to an enemy system via an unknown, unapproved warp lane were bad enough, but it also could have provided an alternate route for the Nemesis instead of allowing her to fly into another contested system where she took damage by flying into an ambush. The only consideration the Cube seemed to have been worried about was the timing of its own convoluted plan involving Barrett's experimental weapon system.
The apparent oversights by the Cube could mean that it wasn't as infallible as everyone assumed it to be after its work on Project Prometheus. It was an accident born of hastily designed alien technology, after all. How much faith should they be putting into assuming that it considered all possible alternative actions and consequences before it advised them? Worse still, had the Cube done the math and decided that the risk to human lives was acceptable if it meant bumping the odds of mission success up a few percentage points? It had done something similar in the past before it had become sentient.
Since there was little he could do about it currently, he pushed the matter from his mind. Regardless of how the Aludra Star had come to be there, she was an asset in the system for Jackson to use. With the matter of the Cube's trustworthiness on his mind, he reluctantly sent the message he'd been composing that gave Commander Walsh approval to perform the warp drive avionics software patch. He wanted it to be a matter of official record that the decision was entirely his in case something went wrong, so the message was unnecessarily wordy and he hoped Walsh took the hint and sent no reply.
"Coms, inform Flight OPS that I want four of our Jacobson drones outfitted with full sensor and com suites," Jackson said after closing out his terminal. "I'm passing on course plots for each drone. OPS, once you have control of the drones we'll be initiating a Wright Grid."
"Aye, sir," Hori said. "Prepping Link nodes now."
The "Wright Grid" was named after Captain Celesta Wright. During the first serious push into Darshik space, she'd launched all of her Jacobson drones and had them create an active sensor grid by routing all the data through CIC and then putting the aggregate results onto the Link for the rest of the fleet to share. It had been so successful that the software and command scripts had been distributed to all ships that carried the advanced drones.
Within an hour Flight OPS had the drones loaded with the appropriate mission modules and into the launch cradles. Jackson commanded the drive to zero output while they spit the drones out of the belly launchers, waiting until the semi-autonomous spacecraft had cleared the area before telling the helm to throttle back up.
Captain Barrett's missile sleds were a valuable asset, but only if there was the accompanying sensor data to provide targeting data. Since the Starburst system was still technically in the test phase, none of the sleds were fitted with the expensive active arrays that would normally be used to aim the missiles. Jackson's drones would be able to fill in, but it wouldn't be perfect; there would still be a lag from the time the sensor data came over the Link to when his signal to one of the sleds would fire the weapons.
"I have command of the drones, sir," Hori reported. "All four have strong telemetry and are showing green across the board. They'll be in optimum position within … seventeen hours."
"Which is significantly longer than we'll be," Jackson said, realizing he was outrunning his advantage in this fight. "Helm, decrease relative velocity by twenty percent and then steady as she bears."
"Engines answering all reverse," Healy said. "Shedding twenty percent of relative and then steady as she bears, aye."
"Captain, warp drive controller updates have been applied successfully," the Cube said over the intercom. "The system is available at your discretion."
"Acknowledged," Jackson said, a cold chill passing through him as he realized how much trust he was putting in the Cube yet again. He pulled up a few more screens on the holographic display attached to his chair and did one last check of all the Nemesis's vitals before she went into battle again.
He closed down the display and looked at all the enemy ships represented on the main screen and couldn't help but wonder if he was flying into another elaborate trap by an enemy commander that was proving to be as cunning and ruthless as Jackson had feared. So far the Specter seemed to always be a half-step ahead of him and he was quickly growing tired of that. It was well past time to even the score.
22
"We're getting major movement from the formations, Captain," Accari reported.
"I see that, Tactical," Jackson said, never taking his eyes off the real-time sensor feed on the main display. "They know we're here. OPS! Have all the Jacobsons go full active sensors. Tactical, let's stay quiet for now and just try to blend into the noise. It's likely they've just realized what our Link transmissions mean or they've spotted the drones' engines on thermals."
"Aye, sir," Accari said.
"New commands sent to all four drones, sir," Hori reported.
The Aludra Star was coming downhill in a wide, decaying heliocentric orbit while the Nemesis was taking a direct route towards the cluster of Darshik ships and one ESA frigate. Jackson had wanted to remain hidden as long as practical while trying to coordinate multiple ships, multiple drones, and over two dozen loaded missile sleds. The Darshik cruisers, whi
le not especially formidable on their own, still had the ability to perform warp hops and almost instantly redeploy themselves. The Nemesis was tough, but ten cruisers could be problematic once they were in close. The Aludra Star would fare even worse; she was heavily armored but didn't have much in the way of speed or armament.
Jackson looked at the mission clock and was surprised that only four and a half hours had passed since first watch had come back on duty. He had the bridge on twelve-hour shifts with floaters from third watch and CIC able to relieve people for short breaks. The lower decks were likely running split-sixes so that they were rotating fresh people in relatively often during the long, boring crawl down the well. Chambliss would know, but Jackson wasn't in the habit of micromanaging his department heads. They knew what they had to do and he didn't care how they went about doing it.
"Active returns from the Jacobsons coming through the Link now, Captain," Accari said. "Darshik formation is scattering randomly … the ESA ship is now under full power and heading the opposite direction of our approach."
"Which means we've actually been spotted too," Jackson said. "Let's go full active on our sensors as well, Tactical. I don't want a cruiser hopping in behind us and not have our targeting radar already sweeping."
"Actives coming up now, Captain," Accari said. "We have one cruiser that's flown within optimum range of Sled Nineteen." Jackson and Chambliss looked at each other and shrugged.
"Target cruiser with two missiles from Sled Nineteen," Jackson said. "Fire at will."
"Targeting orders sent, fire command sent," Accari said. "Stand by for updates."
The Nemesis pressed on as an automated weapons platform over three million kilometers away received the properly coded commands and fired two Shrike missiles at the incoming Darshik cruiser. From the time Accari sent the command to when they were alerted the missiles had met the target, nearly four and a half hours had passed while the destroyer continued to loaf towards the engagement, still drifting with her engines at idle.
Destroyer (Expansion Wars Trilogy, Book 3) Page 20