Planet Killer (A Captain's Crucible Book 4)

by Isaac Hooke

  During their development, the four stars had obviously swept up most of the matter from the system, because the only planet proved an ice giant. However, that giant had at least a hundred moons, as well as a ring system. The largest moon harbored the Raakarr colony, according to Valor. Jonathan zoomed in on it via his tactical display: the size of Earth, that moon had a small ring system of its own. Above it, seventy red dots marked the enemy ships that had gathered in defense of the colony. The count matched the most recent value reported by the Talon. There was also no indication of the “scavenger” vessel Robert had reported.

  Directly behind the fleet, the exit Slipstream was labeled 1-Vac. Two other wormholes existed on the opposite side of the system, labeled 2-Vac and 3-Vac by the admiral. The existence of the latter two had troubled Jonathan ever since Barrick first reported them, because those could easily be used to bring in enemy reinforcements.

  “Captain, this is strange,” Ensign Lewis said.

  Jonathan glanced at the ops officer. “What?”

  “I’m detecting signs of terraforming on three of the moons,” Lewis said. “It appears an extensive array of mirrors has been deployed in their upper atmospheres, likely to amplify the solar rays reaching their surfaces. Also, each moon is orbited by a network of satellites that seem to be emitting powerful magnetic fields, probably generating the magnetospheres necessary to protect the moons from the radiation of the ice giant and the suns. If we could get scouts down to the surface, I’m sure we’d find evidence of Forma pipes, or the Raakarr equivalents, anyway.” Forma pipes were what the United Systems sometimes used to terraform a world, and were driven deep into the crust to pipe breathable air into the atmospheres from natural reserves located far below the surface.

  “Okay...” Jonathan said. “But why is any of that strange?”

  “Well, Valor claimed the colony world was terraformed, didn’t he?” the ensign asked.

  “That’s right.”

  “Unlike the other moons,” Lewis explained. “I’m not seeing any indications of terraforming on the main colony. Either it was naturally inhabitable by the Raakarr, with the perfect atmosphere and magnetosphere, and just the right orbit to receive the necessary sunlight year round, or the aliens used a newer terraforming method that didn’t leave a footprint.”

  Jonathan studied his display. “Maybe that ring system around the colony is part of their new terraforming technology?”

  “Maybe,” Lewis said. “But as far as I can tell, it’s just a bunch of rocks.”

  Jonathan glanced at Robert and extended his noise canceler about the commander. “What do you think?’

  “Valor might be lying,” Robert said.

  “But why lie about something like terraforming?” Jonathan asked.

  “I don’t know,” Robert said. “Maybe Valor is worried the United Systems wouldn’t want to destroy a naturally inhabitable moon?”

  “For good reason,” Jonathan said. “Life-bearing planets are a rarity throughout this galaxy, even if it’s alien life that is supported, and not human. I’m going to inform the vice admiral.”

  When Jonathan finished explaining the situation to the vice admiral, Levieson said: “That doesn’t change anything. Natural or terraformed, we’re still going to destroy it. Besides, I’m of the opinion that they’ve developed newer terraforming tech, as per your alternate theory. I mean, come on, obviously they’re using the star system as a testbed. Why else would they have terraformed three other moons if not to streamline the tech? And with so many moons available, the same relative distance from the suns, under almost the same set of conditions, it’s the perfect testing ground. The United Sytems perfected its own terraforming tech by experimenting under similar circumstances. The seventeen moons of Antares III spring to mind. The mission is a go.”

  “I understand, sir.” Jonathan tapped out.

  “What did he say?” Robert asked.

  “The mission is a go.”

  The Talon left scouts at 1-Vac to continue passing information back and forth between its other modified fighters, so that the fleet would remain apprised of the situations in both Vega 951 and Raakarr-1. Meanwhile, the Builder began constructing the return Gate, and telemetry drones were launched toward the ice giant, with plans to give the planet and its hostile protectors a wide berth. So far, the seventy vessels in orbit above the colony world had made no move to attack.

  The second day, while Jonathan was on the bridge during the first watch, Ensign Lewis made an announcement.

  “I’m detecting heat signatures from the far Slipstreams,” Lewis said. “Ships are emerging from 2-Vac and 3-Vac.”

  “Let me know when you have a count,” Jonathan said.

  When she hadn’t answered after two minutes, Jonathan said: “Do you have a count?”

  “We’re at fifty from 2-Vac and twenty-five from 3-Vac,” Lewis said. “But the ships are still coming.”

  “Not good.” Jonathan said.

  Eight minutes later she reported the final tally at a hundred from 2-Vac, and fifty from 3-Vac.

  Jonathan glanced at Robert. “So, including the original seventy ships in the system, we’re outnumbered slightly more than two to one.”

  The commander shrugged. “We’ve faced worse odds.”

  “I’m reading more heat signatures,” the ensign said urgently.

  “From which Slipstream?”

  “Not a Slipstream,” she replied. “From behind the ice giant. Apparently, ships of all kind have been hiding there. Pyramid. Reach. Dart. Capital.” She paused. “Oh no. No.”

  “Lewis...” Jonathan said.

  She glanced up. “There’s just too many of them.”

  “How many?” Jonathan asked.

  “Captain, there are at least two thousand.”

  twenty-one

  Two thousand?” Jonathan said in disbelief. “Not even Earth has that many ships acting in its defense.”

  “If we recalled every ship in the fleet, it would come close,” Miko said. “Fifteen hundred.”

  Jonathan nodded distractedly. Two thousand. None of the United Systems crews were going to make it home alive. Those who survived the initial attack would be taken prisoner by the Elk, and likely experimented on until they died.

  This is the end.

  He stared at the display.

  A year and a half. It’s taken a year and a half to get here from Prius 3. Trapped aboard cramped berthing areas in prisons of steel, glass and polycarbonate. And we’ve only been building up to our own doom.

  “For a colony world, they’ve certainly managed to assemble an incredible defense force,” Robert said.

  His voice drew Jonathan up from the depths of despair. Somehow, the commander managed to sound calm.

  Admirable of him. I must put on a brave face myself, for the crew.

  He cleared his throat and straightened his back.

  I am the Captain.

  “Incredible, yes,” Jonathan said. “It almost defies belief.”

  “It is a tad suspicious,” Robert said.

  “Is it?” Jonathan fought against the despair that attempted to pull him down again. “If the United Systems had a planet responsible for eighty percent of its starship fuel production, they would defend it well, too.”

  “The United Systems does have such a planet,” Robert said. “Earth.”

  Lazur spoke up. “Captain, the vice admiral requests a tap in.”

  Jonathan sighed mentally. He knew what awaited. “Put him through.”

  “Well Jonathan,” Levieson said. “It looks like we’ve finally met our match. The Talon is to transmit our unconditional surrender.”

  “Understood, sir.” Jonathan disconnected. “Lazur, get me Barrick.”

  “Yes, Captain?” Barrick said over the comm a moment later.

  “I want Valor to send a message to the enemy,” Jonathan said. “We surrender unconditionally.”

  “The Elk vessels aren’t going to answer...” Barrick said.

/>   “Do it!” Jonathan said.

  A moment later Lewis reported a focused gamma ray emerging from the Talon. It reached the enemy colony in twenty minutes.

  Jonathan settled back in his chair and stared at the numerous swarms of red dots on the tactical display. Extending his noise canceler around the commander, he said: “Well, we’re truly screwed. And there’s no way back.”

  “Maybe we can hold off the Raakarr long enough to build a return Gate,” Robert said.

  “Ha,” Jonathan said.

  “It still bothers me that the resistance is so great for a mere colony world,” Robert said.

  “Well, it only takes them a month to build their simplest ships,” Jonathan reminded him. “And if this system really is the source of much of their fuel, then they had all the raw materials they needed to create that force.”

  “Well, they’ve obviously had advance warning of our approach,” Robert said. “Giving them ample opportunity to recall their fleet.”

  Jonathan rescinded the noise canceler. “Lewis, are we detecting any geronium levels from the ice giant, or the colony world?”

  “Not at this distance, no,” Lewis said.

  “It’s looking more and more likely that they don’t use geronium,” Robert said. “Though we probably won’t know for sure until we detonate the planet killer and get up close and personal with that crust.”

  Jonathan smiled grimly. Too bad there’s no way we’re getting that close. Not now.

  The captain stood. “I’ll be in my office. Let me know if we get an answer to our surrender.”

  When he had settled in, he spoke. “So Maxwell, what do you think? We’ve got ourselves into a bit of a pinch this time, haven’t we?”

  “That would be an understatement, sir,” the Callaway’s AI replied.

  “It almost makes me feel I should have pleaded guilty to my charges,” Jonathan said. “And allowed the navy to lock me up in a military prison. Then again, if humanity is doomed like Barrick says, then I wouldn’t escape our eventual destruction even there.”

  “I’m sure you prefer it this way,” Maxwell said. “Fighting out here on the front lines for the survival of the human race, rather than locked up in a cell and hoping that some surrogate would act better in your place.”

  “I would,” Jonathan said. “But, well, I never thought I’d see the day, where I found myself facing such impossible odds. If only we had gathered more ships...”

  “The United Systems only possesses fifteen hundred vessels in active service,” Maxwell said. “Even if the navy mustered all of its ships, leaving the Earth undefended in the process, we would still be outnumbered almost one point three to one.”

  “It’s better than twenty to one, isn’t it?”

  “You faced similar odds in the Elder galaxy,” Maxwell said. “And utilized the features of the system to your advantage. Flying over a subgiant star, as I recall, and causing a solar flare to erupt, eliminating half of your opponents.”

  Jonathan shook his head. “The circumstances were completely different then. Surprise was on our side. We’ll never even make it to the suns to use such a tactic again, not with all those ships in front of us.”

  “Perhaps we’ll be able to construct a return Gate,” Maxwell said. “As Robert suggested.”

  “You truly believe the Raakarr are going to leave us alone for six months?” Jonathan said. “Good luck with that. You know how badly they want our planet killer. My guess is that they’ll send in successive waves to harry us, until they disable enough of us to grapple the Dammerung.”

  “The Dammerung has orders to self destruct upon capture,” Maxwell said.

  “Yes,” Jonathan said. “And we’ll take out a huge swath of the enemy when that happens, thanks to all the geronium aboard. But it won’t be enough.” He sat back, and folded his hands over his chest. “I wonder what Hartford Knox would say if he could see me now.”

  “Probably that the fleet was foolish to embark upon such a mission in the first place,” the AI said.

  “Probably,” Jonathan agreed.

  “You still seek his approval, even after all he did to you,” Maxwell said. “And even though he is no longer alive.”

  “I don’t know if it’s his approval I seek,” Jonathan said. “So much as his forgiveness. Though I’m sure his ghost doesn’t give a damn.”

  “Forgiveness? For allowing the Hurricane to be destroyed in that final battle?”

  “No, not for that,” Jonathan said. “I was in the brig when that happened, if you’ll recall, so it wasn’t really my fault. I’m talking about his forgiveness for what I said to him up there on that mountain, when he refused to help me bring Famina down. I said some inexcusable things, accusing him of putting his own ambition to attain the summit above human life. But the truth is, Famina died anyway. I could have summited with Hartford, but instead I chose to dally to help a woman who was already dead. I never had a chance to set things right with Hartford. And then I pulled that whole vote of no confidence thing on him...”

  Maxwell didn’t respond for several seconds. “I think... you made the correct choice on that mountaintop. Saving a life always takes precedence over transitory endeavors such as summiting a mountain, even if you fail in the saving of that life.”

  “You’re right,” Jonathan said. “But I do regret never fixing things between myself and Hartford. I was the one who drove a wedge between us all those years. I always looked down on him as if I was morally superior, and whenever he got promoted over me, it only served to stir my resentment. He tried to extend an olive branch several times, but I always refused him. I had no right to behave that way. And I guess now, as I sit here aboard my ship, faced with the prospect of my own doom, I’m finally able to look back on all the decades and see things clearly. Is regret purely a human emotion, or do AIs feel such a thing as well?”

  “It’s purely human,” Maxwell said.

  Jonathan frowned. “Yeah. That’s what I thought. Thanks for the little pep talk.”

  “I’m sure I only made you feel more miserable,” Maxwell said.

  “Indeed you did,” Jonathan said. “I guess that’s why they tell you never to stick your hand in the toaster.”

  TWO HOURS PASSED.

  No gamma rays were returned from the massive enemy fleet during that time.

  Barrick tapped in. “It seems the Elk have elected not to reply to our unconditional surrender. Just as I predicted.”

  “You’ve seen this future?” Jonathan asked him.

  “Do you remember the waypoints I once spoke of to you?” Barrick replied.

  “I do.”

  “We’re at one of those waypoints,” Barrick said.

  “So what do we do?”

  “I fear humanity is doomed regardless of what choice we make at this point,” Barrick said.

  “Thanks,” Jonathan said. “What happened to your stance about not revealing the future?”

  “A momentary lapse on my part,” Barrick said. “I apologize. In any case, Valor tells me he has a plan.”

  “Do share it,” Jonathan said. “Because we need all the help we can get right now. Even if humanity is doomed, perhaps we can at least save the fleet.” He had long since stopped paying much attention to the telepath’s doom talk, which is why that last sentence came out a bit more sarcastic than he intended.

  Barrick spoke, and Jonathan listened very carefully, slowly nodding the whole time. When Barrick was done, the captain said: “Can Valor actually pull something like that off?”

  “He says with utmost certainty he can.”

  Jonathan informed Levieson, who in turn passed the information on to the admiral. She called a fleet-wide conference shortly thereafter.

  “Well boys and girls,” the admiral said. “It looks like we have a chance at eradicating the colony world after all. It’s not going to be easy, and it’s going to require a lot of blood, sweat and tears on our part, but it can be done. You see, our allies have given us a way to t
ake the war to the enemy, a way to teach these ruthless foes of humanity a lesson they won’t soon forget. Here’s what we’re going to do...”

  JONATHAN STUDIED THE tactics the admiral had shared with him and the fleet. It was a good plan, if a dangerous one. There were many assumptions, and if any of them proved incorrect, they’d lose the Dammerung and the colony wouldn’t be destroyed. Maybe that was a good thing... sparing the lives of the five million inhabitants. Then again, if the enemy could gather two thousand ships on such relatively short notice to defend the colony, who could say how many vessels they had in total, and what fate awaited humanity if the battle group failed to cut off the Raakarr from their fuel source? He was starting to believe humanity was indeed doomed, as Barrick said.

  He had already instructed Miko and Maxwell to work on ways to improve the plan; he just hoped the admiral was open-minded enough to accept what they came up with.

  As he pondered means of bettering the plan himself, his chief weapons engineer tapped in holographically.

  “What is it, Harv?” Jonathan asked the lieutenant, who appeared to be sitting opposite him in his office.

  “I’ve been examining the schematics of the Dammerung,” Harv said.

  “You’ve had nothing to do since you had to give up the alien fighter, huh?” Jonathan said.

  Harv smiled fleetingly. “I’ve been bored out of my mind. But listen, I’ve had a stroke of inspiration.”

  “All right,” Jonathan said. “Tell me.”

  “Well, the gist of it is, I’ve come up with a way to create a charged field around the destroyer.”

  Jonathan sat up straighter and leaned forward. “You’re not joking with me I hope. With such a breakthrough... why, we won’t have to fear the Raakarr particle beams anymore during the attack run.”