by M. D. Cooper
Tanis glanced back at the sensor array’s maintenance console. “I should finish looking this over.”
“You’ve been on shift for half a day and we have seven hours before we’ll get a response from the system beacon’s active Link. Why don’t you catch sack till then. I can do the inspection.”
Tanis gave a tired smile. “I suppose I could use some rest…and it is your ship after all.”
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
STELLAR DATE: 10.26.8927 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Sabrina, EK Belt
REGION: Bollam’s World System, Bollam’s World Federation
Tanis was on the bridge minutes later, one hand holding a cup of coffee and the other rubbing her face. “Does it have data on the Intrepid?” she asked.
Cheeky un-slaved scan from her console and directed it back to Tanis’s station.
“Doesn’t look like it,” the pilot said with a shake of her head. “Just the same as before, though with more up-to-date information.”
“It’s like the Intrepid really isn’t here…” Tanis sighed. “But the reports in New Eden definitely talked about a colony ship in Bollam’s.”
“Tanis, check the planets’ positions in scan with what we can see from here, the beacon’s scan data may be faked.”
Cheeky looked up from her console. “Fake! No one fakes system scan. They may as well ask for jump-point collisions!”
“I’ve seen it before,” Sera said, her voice solemn.
“Freaking, fucking… nut… I’m out of words!”
Cheeky may present a carefree exterior in nearly every aspect of her life; but when it came to piloting, and the strictures that kept starships plying the dark, she was a different person. She was right too; faking scan was a disaster waiting to happen. Ships may be small in the vastness of space, but they all traveled between just a few points, which meant they were usually concentrated within the same areas.
“Damn…it is faked,” Tanis reported. “This looks like scan from over a month ago, they tried to blend it so that the planets were in the right positions, but there are ships clearly heading to places that have since moved.”
“We need to find out what is going on in this system and fast. Cheeky. Let’s burn some antimatter.”
Sera stood and threw Sabrina’s own scan data on the bridge’s main holo tank. “Looks strangely clear,” the captain muttered.
The space they were traveling through was near a commonly used jump point, which the ship’s scan showed it to be deserted.
Tanis frowned at her readouts. “I’m betting that there is real scan somewhere. Whoever has botched the signal must still want to know where things are themselves. Good data has to be in there somewhere.”
She and Angela broke down the data stream from the system’s beacon and began sifting through its components for any hidden information while Sera sent an update to the rest of the crew. Over the next half hour everyone visited the bridge to ask if they were really in a system with no scan.
Twenty minutes later, Tanis let out a cry of triumph.
“Found it! I figured the best place to hide the real scan was within the fake one. There were several distorted portions of the signal, and sure enough one of them contained the carrier wave for valid data. I’m configuring our system to read from it.”
Sera set her screen to display the system’s readout, and within a minute, it flicked from the boring show of regular, light traffic to an entirely different tableau. Everyone took a deep breath and then uttered a variety of curses.
The real data showed a heavy cluster of ships near the system’s sixth planet, the 6MJ gas giant named Kithari. Sera selected that planet and zoomed in. The ships were grouped near one of its larger moons, a world named Fierra, which appeared to be in the late stages of terraforming. She selected the planet and all space within two hundred thousand kilometers, and threw it up on the bridge’s main holo tank. Cheeky and Tanis swiveled in their chairs to gaze at the results.
It was a mess.
Seven thousand kilometers from the moon, in an equatorial orbit, lay the Intrepid, its fleet fully deployed. Roughly a hundred-thousand kilometers beyond lay a fleet consisting of fifty-two destroyers and light cruisers. The scan data identified them as Bollam’s World Space Force. The majority of ships in this fleet were positioned at strategic points that appeared to both protect and corral the Intrepid.
Another fleet held position fifty-thousand kilometers north of the moon, it consisted of several light cruisers and over two-hundred corvettes. A similar formation of nearly the same composition held position roughly the same distance south of the moon.
Beyond all the fleets, lay the eleven AST dreadnaughts, holding station in a half-ring around the moon’s parent world.
“How the hell did they beat us here?” Sera cursed.
“They must have transitioned back to regular space and boosted up, before going back into FTL,” Cheeky said, her brow furrowed.
“I realize that, it was rhetorical,” Sera said.
“Oh.”
Tanis let out a soft chuckle, then a good long laugh. When she stopped, she looked up to see Sera, Cheeky, and Cargo staring at her.
“Sorry, it’s just par for the course,” Tanis said, still chuckling. “They’ve gone and got themselves into quite the mess. Who do you think those corvette fleets are?”
Sera frowned. “Someday I’d like to hear the whole story of how you guys got here. As for those two light fleets…they’re…aw shit.”
“That good, eh?” Tanis asked.
“Our pirate friends have come for the fun. Rebecca and her ships are at the north pole and Padre is at the south end. Looks like they decided to go hunting for the Intrepid without you.”
“How friendly are any of those factions likely to become with each other?”
“I’d say less friendly, more hostile. Scan shows several small debris fields. I’ll bet there have already been some altercations.”
“I’m surprised that more of the Bollam’s space force isn’t deployed,” Cargo said. “They must have thousands of ships in the system.”
“They’re moving more in, but I bet the arrival of the AST is giving them pause,” Tanis said. “You can see them gathering forces at key points. I bet they’re also readying some nice big rail guns.”
“They’ll have some, but people don’t really use rails defensively anymore,” Sera said as she examined the Bollam’s fleet positions. “With inertial dampeners, ships can jink well out of the way of a rail’s slug.”
Tanis frowned. “That may be true, but what about grapeshot? You don’t fire where they are, but where you expect them to be.”
“Grapeshot?” Cheeky asked.
“Rail-fired shells filled with millions of pebbles. You fill all reasonable approaches with them. People can jink all they want, they’ll just jink into the grapeshot. Then you use their hesitation against them and send in the slugs, or beams, if they are close enough,” Tanis replied.
“You lived in a brutal time,” Cargo commented.
“War is always brutal. But I need to get to my ship, and you need to deliver on your promise,” Tanis said to Sera, her expression almost pleading.
Sera smiled and nodded to Tanis before she turned to their pilot. “Cheeky? How does it look?”
“Well, provided that no one blows us to pieces I can make it happen. Based on the axial tilt of the planet, and everyone’s orbits, there will be a period in about five hours where only a few of Rebecca’s ships will have Intrepid in their sights. She’s a big mutha, so I bet if I work up the right approach vector we can use her to hide us and get in almost entirely unseen. I’ll have to work out the timing and coast—even hiding behind the Intrepid’s girth, an AP trail would be plain as day.”
“Good plan,” Sera said. “Why don’t you kill thrust now, and we’ll coast till you have your path worked u
p. Use minimal burn; we’ll try to stay as dark as possible. Nix our beacon too. No need to let Rebecca know her favorite pincushion is within reach.”
“Can they detect the graviton emissions from our shielding?” Tanis asked.
Sera ran a hand through her hair. “This close to a 6MJ jovian they shouldn’t be able to. Plus, I’m not really comfortable disabling shields. This system still has a lot of stuff flying around.”
“Having been in a ship hit by this system’s debris, I see your point,” Tanis acknowledged with a nod. “I’ll get a transmission ready to burst to the Intrepid when we have a clear line to them. Don’t want them thinking we’re hostile.”
Sera hadn’t even thought of that. Sabrina’s new shields were good, but she didn’t want to see how well they’d hold up against the radiation wash from one of the tugs patrolling around the Intrepid, let alone the beams on those cruisers.
The next few hours passed quietly. Sabrina had a lot of speed to burn off before making her approach; rather than turning and braking, Cheeky altered the rear shields emit negative gravitons. The effect caused enough drag to slow them down and line up on the desired approach vector.
Sera was making a light lunch for herself in the mess when Flaherty came in and closed the galley door. She looked up at the dour man and smiled. “How are you today?”
Flaherty grunted. “Been better.” He sloshed some semi-warm coffee into a mug and sat down. “It always catches up with you, doesn’t it?”
“Noticed that too, did you?”
His deadly serious eyes bored into hers. “You aren’t going to be able to run from it forever.”
Sera spun to face him directly, her eyes angry, even though her voice was calm. “I am helping a friend here. This is not fate or anything, just random events.”
Flaherty let out a long, exasperated sigh. “You know I’ll always be here to watch your back. But some day you are going to have to own up to your destiny. We’re doing the right thing now, but there are a lot of other things that could also use your attention. A lot more important than some energy module.” With that, the large man stood and left the wardroom, his near-full cup of coffee left on the table.
Sera leaned against the counter and let out a long breath. Suddenly the ship seemed too close and small about her. Her synthetic skin felt like it was constricting her, like she couldn’t breathe. A wave of dizziness hit her and Sera closed her eyes, willing herself to be calm. She could do this; she would not repeat past mistakes. Tanis and the Intrepid would live to see another journey to a star where they could be left out of the messes this close to the core. Sera vowed it.
Sera wondered what the AI saw, what her wisdom and years told her about the future.
Helen sent out an affirmative wave of agreement.
ANDROMEDA
STELLAR DATE: 10.26.8927 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Sabrina, EK Belt
REGION: Bollam’s World System, Bollam’s World Federation
Tanis scoured the background noise in the system, looking for a range with little use and high levels of stellar noise.
Tanis said and began to calibrate Sabrina’s transmitter to piggyback on the planet’s emissions.
Angela replied with a wink.
“Intrepid, this is General Tanis Richards, hope this message finds you well. I’m in a small freighter which will begin making an approach to your position in roughly ten minutes. We expect to be ready to dock in four hours and twenty-nine minutes. Our vector will be southerly to avoid detection from your friends. We will be alone and dark. Please do not fire on us. Please do not respond unless absolutely necessary. We’re not exactly on friendly terms with some of the folks out there either.”
Tanis set the system to repeat the message three times and then killed the transmission. She turned to Cheeky.
“It’s sent. We’re good to begin our final approach. Everything set on your end?”
“As much as it’s going to be. There’s going to be a tight spot in about two hours when we get close to one of the AST ships, but we should be able to slip by if we kill all but our forward shields—which will be facing away from them.” She entered in several commands on her console. “I’m having Sabrina switch main systems to battery as well. No point in having a nice hot reactor giving us away.”
Tanis nodded. The new batteries could power the ship and even send a few pulses from the lasers before running dry. If things got hairy, the reactor would still be warm enough to spin it back up in a few minutes.
Sera reappeared on the bridge looking like she had eaten something unpleasant. She sat in her chair without saying a word and leaned her head back, eyes closed. There was no need to update her on the transmission and commencement of their final approach. Tanis could tell she had maintained a connection to the bridge net.
She felt tempted to ask the captain what was wrong, but decided the other woman just needed to calm down and put whatever was bothering her to rest, rather than having to make up an evasive response.
Tanis took advantage of Sera’s stillness to further observe her. The captain was usually in constant motion; her actions quick and decisive; her face never showing more or less than she intended it to.
At this moment she looked much younger than usual. Tanis realized she couldn’t place Sera’s age…at all. She looked to be in her early twenties, but with the experiences she had mentioned in passing, not to mention her performance on the pirate station and the ship, she had to be much older. Sera had the knowledge and instincts of a person much closer to their first century, possibly even older than that.
The crew had been of little help; most had only known her for a few years; though in that time they had become quite loyal. None of them had any knowledge of their captain’s history before her purchase of Sabrina; with the exception of the ever-mysterious Flaherty—and he wasn’t sharing anything.
Sera sat forward and opened her eyes, looking as alert and full of energy as ever. Tanis’s moment of examination was over.
“Are you going to stay when we reach the Intrepid?” Tanis took the opportunity to ask.
Sera flashed an enigmatic smile. “Well, I do have to help you guys get that ship into FTL—unless they want to stay here forever.”
Cheeky nearly choked. “Captain! That ship can never go into FTL. Every credit I have says they’re negotiating for that moon they’re orbiting—it’s the only play they have.”
Sera shook her head. “Not the only play. The Intrepid can drop into FTL. They just need the right plans to transition their ship safely, and make it appear unappetizing to the lurkers in the dark layer.”
“Yeah, what she said,” Cheeky turned in her seat and directed a quizzical look at Sera. “You don’t have that tech, no one has it.”
Sera shook her head slowly. “Not no one. I have it—so do some others.”
“How—what—captain!” Cheeky exclaimed. “Don’t be ridiculous! You can’t swindle Tanis’s people…�
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“It’s OK,” Tanis said. “I’m taking it on faith that Sera has what she says she does. Besides, our deal was to get me here and be compensated, a payment that I will render promptly, once we dock.”
“You won’t throw the rest of us in your brig if she tries to sell you bogus tech, right?” Cheeky looked worried. “Do you have a brig?”
“It’s a big ship,” Cargo said with a laugh. “They’re going to have a brig.”
“Our original deal aside, FTL tech is pretty impressive. What would you want in exchange?” Tanis asked. The picotech was not up for trade, without it as an option, she wondered what Sera, with her already advanced nanotech could want that could match the value of FTL for the Intrepid.
“The opportunity to get in on the action.”
“You just want to shoot at a few people in trade for amazing, unheard of technology?”
“Not just a few people. I want to turn Rebecca and her fleet of miscreants into a fine molecular cloud. I’m tired of dealing with them. I’m tired of playing their games. In fact, I want to do the same to Padre’s fleet and then I want to show the good people of Bollam’s World that just because a valuable ship shows up in their system it’s not up for grabs.”
“You seem…bitter,” Cheeky observed.
Sera’s expression hardened. “I want to show people that if they behave like animals, someone is going to come along and put them down like the rabid pack they are.”
Tanis was taken aback by Sera’s vehemence. She saw that Cheeky and Cargo were also surprised by the rage in their captain’s voice. Something deep drove Sera’s anger. Something personal and unpleasant.
The conversation was interrupted by the comm board lighting up, and the proximity alarms going off in concert.