by Dietmar Wehr
“You’re right. I just hate the idea of letting the Zukas off the hook.”
“Well, here’s a thought. We tell the Xenos about the Cloak-’A’s and suggest they send a ship there to give them the hyperspace maneuvering tech as well as to plant the seed of attacking the Zukas in their minds.”
Koenig snapped his fingers. “Yes! I should have thought of that myself. Let’s send a reply to the Xeno query. Com, translate and send this message: ‘We think it likely that the Zukas might attack again and recommend the following strategy to distract them. There is a race that has developed a highly advanced form of cloaking technology. If you send one of your ships to contact them, advise them about the super-wave threat, and tell them that the Zukas have the matter manipulation technology that can save them, they might be tempted to attack the Zukas, which might change their own priorities. Offering the cloaking race the FTL technology will make attacking the Zukas more practical. The location of the cloaking race will follow this message.’ End of message. Send that along with the relevant astrogational data.”
The Xenos’ reply was a curt thank you for the astrogational data and suggestion. While the humans waited for the Xenos to confirm that the salvaged tech was sufficient, Koenig left Vasily in command on the Bridge while he went down to the hangar bay to see how the technical experts were coming along with their own evaluation. He found the head of the technical team, Matt Munro, grinning from ear to ear.
“I hope that smile on your face means you tech people understand how this stuff works,” said Koenig.
“Let me put it this way. We’ve examined enough of the hardware and the data sent by the Xenos to be highly confident that the data is the real deal. Everything we’ve managed to check so far has given us satisfactory results. This tech is amazing. How soon can we head home? We don’t have the right equipment to disassemble these salvaged parts properly so that they can be re-assembled again later on.”
“I’m glad to hear that the Xenos lived up to their end of the deal. As soon as they tell us that they don’t require anything more from us regarding the FTL tech, we’ll head for home.”
Over the next few hours, the Xenos made several engineering queries regarding how the hyperspace maneuvering technology worked, which the engineering AI was able to answer. Koenig was asleep when the Xenos sent a message declaring that they understood the FTL tech and wanted to know if the humans needed any additional data on the matter manipulation tech. After conferring with Munro and his team, the engineering AI told the Xenos that no additional data was needed. With both sides satisfied, Chen, who was the BDO, followed Koenig’s previously disseminated conditional order and told the astro AI to take the ship home.
Chapter Fourteen:
As Excalibur slipped into a low orbit, Koenig was relieved to find Earth still in one piece with no obvious signs of enemy bombardment. His mission report had already been sent while the ship was still approaching the planet, and no sooner had the ship entered orbit than Koenig received a video call from CSO Corrigan himself.
“Congratulations on accomplishing your mission, Koenig. I’m not sure how our civilian masters are going to react to your conclusion that the Xenos aren’t the bloodthirsty barbarians the Vergon made them out to be, but you’ve convinced me. Normally you and your crew would be given R&R leave, which has certainly been earned, but another mission has come up, and Excalibur is the ship best suited for it. We suspect that the Tong have discovered the GED base. The reason why we think so is that a freighter sent there on a resupply mission has failed to return and is long overdue. I’ve been holding Tizona back because if you were successful in acquiring the tech we need, then Tizona could take it to the Tong home system and offer it to them in exchange for a ceasefire, while Excalibur carries the tech to the Base so that they can start to exploit it. Since you’ve brought back two examples of the actual technology, I’m ordering you to land Excalibur just long enough to unload one of them here, along with the relevant data, and then head to the GED base. When you get there, your orders are simple. Find out if the base is still intact, drop off the atomic manipulation tech and the specialists that are on board right now if it is, and—most importantly—check to see if any Tong ships are lying in ambush, and destroy them if they are. Any questions?”
“No questions, Admiral.”
“Okay, then. One more thing. I noticed that you didn’t hide the fact that you agreed to trade a forbidden technology to the Xenos. Those same civilian masters aren’t going to be happy about that.”
“I’m hoping that the old military saying ‘it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission’ will apply in this case, but the bottom line is that we didn’t actually give the Xenos any forbidden technology because they were able to learn what they needed to know from salvaging Zukas battle debris. So, in spite of my verbal agreement to do so, I never actually violated the spirit of my official orders, Admiral.”
Corrigan smiled. “Just be glad you don’t have to ask me for forgiveness, Commander, because as a general rule, I don’t give it. Technically you’re correct with regards to the spirit of the orders, but the civilian leadership could still make life difficult for you if they wanted to. I’ll do my best to convince them to let this one go. Corrigan out.”
Koenig’s announcement to the crew and passengers that the ship would be landing but that no R&R would be given got the type of reception he expected. No one was happy about it, but everyone understood that critical situations demand extra effort.
When the ship was resting again on the ground, it became clear that moving one of the salvaged pieces out of the hangar bay was not going to be easy. Each piece was twice as long and nearly four times as heavy as a shuttle, and special equipment had to be attached to lift one of them up on contra-gravity thrusters and then push it clear of the ship. That took almost two hours to accomplish. At least everyone on board had a chance to get out, breathe real air again and feel the sun on their faces, if only for a short while. At the same time as the unloading of the salvaged equipment, Excalibur’s consumables were topped up, and a second shuttle was brought on board. The mood among the crew was somber as the ship climbed out of Earth’s gravity well and headed for a direct transit to the GED base star system. Tizona was already on its way to the Tong home world system.
Koenig ordered a pre-jump velocity of two-thirds of light, and the resulting jump only took slightly more than two days in terms of ship time. As a precaution, the ship dropped out of hyperspace before reaching the system’s gravity threshold. Koenig had decided not to take any chances. He and Vasily were on the Bridge when they reached the target system. The tactical display pinged for attention almost immediately.
“Unidentified object has been detected,” said the tactical AI. “Range indeterminate, but TacComp calculates a sixty-one point eight percent probability that object is a ship on or near the gravity well threshold.”
“Just outside the threshold would be a good place to ambush arriving ships,” said Koenig.
“There’s a possibility, however remote, that it’s the missing freighter,” said Vasily.
“Let’s find out,” said Koenig. “Astro, slow us down. I want to approach that object very slowly. Hull camo on, running lights off. When we’re close enough to identify it visually, bring us to zero velocity.”
It was over 34 nerve-wracking minutes before the display pinged again with new data.
“Object has been identified as a ship with a configuration that does not match any known TOSF or other human ship. TacComp calculates a ninety-seven point two percent probability that the bogey, now designated as Tango1, is a Tong ship.”
“Bingo,” said Koenig with quiet satisfaction. “I’ll bet it ambushed the freighter when she dropped back into normal space, crippling her engines, and as a result, she couldn’t avoid diving right into that star. Do we have an estimated range to Tango1 yet, Tactical?”
“Affirmative. Estimated range is approximately zero point five
million kilometers and is within effective gravity cannon range.”
“Damn right it’s within effective range. We’re going to nail that bastard right now! Go to Battle Stations! Fire both cannon as soon as they’re charged and targeted! Continue firing until I say otherwise!”
“Affirmative. Firing first volley in two…one…now. Two probable hits. Tango1 is now maneuvering. Second volley ready in one…now. One confirmed hit, one probable hit. Tango1 is now actively scanning but has not detected us. Third volley firing…now. Two confirmed hits. Tango1 is no longer maneuvering or scanning.”
“Cease firing cannon!” yelled Koenig. “Load one Mark 14 missile! Fire when ready!”
“Missile tube one ready to fire in two…one…now. Missile impact in eighty-nine seconds. Tango1 is still on a ballistic trajectory and is not maneuvering.”
“What about giving them a chance to surrender?” asked Vasily. Koenig was surprised that she hadn’t left the Bridge yet to head to her assigned battle station. He looked around and saw her standing near the doors. He shook his head.
“No, goddammit! They want to play the ambush game? Well, two can play at that. No surrender. Get to your station, XO.” She turned and left without saying another word.
The 89 seconds went quickly. The Tong ship must have been crippled because it did not try to evade the oncoming missile. When the resulting explosion dissipated, there were no pieces of the Tong ship left that were large enough to be seen.
“Tango1 has been destroyed,” said the AI.
“Let’s head for the base, Astro. Stand down from Battle Stations. Com, give me inter-craft. This is the CO. We’ve just destroyed a Tong ship that was positioned to ambush ships dropping out of hyperspace. I know all of you want to celebrate our victory. I do too. Let’s wait until we know if our base is still intact and its people unharmed. Koenig out.” He waited a few seconds before speaking again. “Com, can we send a comlaser message to the base from here?”
“There is a high probability that asteroid debris will block the beam, Commander.”
“Okay, then, let’s get closer. Astro, how quickly can we get to the base on a direct trajectory?”
“One hour forty-four minutes. Recommend indirect trajectory to confuse any attempt at tracking us by other possible enemy ships.”
Koenig almost said no but held back. While it was certainly possible that there had been and might still be more Tong ships in this star system, how likely was that to be the case? He was still debating the issue with himself when Vasily re-entered the Bridge.
“There may be other Tong ships out there, Commander,” she said in a formal tone of voice. “The ship we destroyed might have been there to track arriving TOSF ships to see if they reveal where the base is. Otherwise, how would the Tong find it in that asteroid belt? It would be like looking for a needle in a haystack, only a hundred times harder.”
“I agree that searching for the base from scratch would be a daunting task, but they may have tracked the freighter to the base before destroying both,” said Koenig slowly. “Just in case you’re right about there being more Tong ships, we’ll head for an asteroid that isn’t near the base and see what, if anything, happens. Astro, pick an asteroid of roughly the same size as the GED base rock, and approach it as if it was the base. Notify me when we get close to entering the belt.”
That happened less than an hour later. Koenig was alone on the Bridge and manning the Command Pod. Vasily has left a while back. She was still off-duty, and Koenig didn’t know where she was or what she was doing.
“Approaching asteroid belt, Commander,” said the astro AI.
“Begin active scanning in all directions. Let’s go to Battle Stations,” said Koenig quietly. “Com, give me inter-craft. This is the CO. We’re pretending to approach the base but are actually approaching another asteroid altogether as a precaution against being tracked by one or more Tong ships that still might be out there. Let’s all stay alert. Hopefully this won’t amount to anything, but we have to be ready just in case. Koenig out.”
The display was now updating with the radar scanning results. Excalibur was slowing down even further to avoid hull damage that could be caused by colliding too fast with small rocky debris. The deeper into the belt the ship got, the more nervous Koenig became. If he was tracking a ship entering an asteroid field like this, he’d wait until the ship was deep within it and unable to maneuver quickly before attacking.
“Com, send a bogus comlaser signal to the decoy asteroid in case a Tong ship can see its reflection.”
“Signal sent.”
Koenig took a deep breath and tried to calm down his heart rate. He didn’t understand why or how, but he was certain that there was at least one other Tong ship out there tracking Excalibur. He wouldn’t be able to keep up the ruse for much longer. Excalibur was approaching the decoy asteroid, and when it got there and did nothing, any tracking ship would realize the deception.
Just as he was about to give the order to slow down even more, all hell broke loose.
“Two incoming missiles detected,” said the tactical AI quickly. “Switching cannon to anti-missile mode, firing, one hi—”
Koenig gasped as the decoy asteroid exploded and the AI’s voice was drowned out by the radiation and tactical alert alarms. The Command Pod sealed itself automatically to protect the occupant from radiation or environmental threats. Koenig’s heart seemed to skip a beat as he felt a tremendous vibration even through the seat’s padding. Something, probably a chunk of rock from the decoy asteroid, had hit the ship. Stop reacting and start acting, he told himself.
“Do we know where those missiles were fired from!”
“Approximate bearing only on the display,” said the tactical AI. The smaller display inside the pod showed a flashing red line leading off to the left side and also slightly up.
“Astro! Pivot the ship and head along that bearing! What damage did we suffer? Casualties?”
“No critical systems damaged,” said the engineering AI. “Minor hull breach has been contained.”
“No casualties reported so far,” said the com AI.
“Good!” Koenig’s voice was hoarse with stress and relief. “Now tell me what happened back there.”
“Our cannon intercepted the missile aimed at Excalibur. The second missile was aimed at the decoy asteroid,” said the tactical AI.
“Anything on radar yet?”
“Sporadic contact with an object that may be the Tong ship, but radar returns from hundreds of asteroid debris pieces is making a definitive assessment difficult. There are indications that the Tong ship may be moving away.”
“If they think they’ve destroyed the base, then they may want to quit while they’re ahead. How quickly can we get out of the belt?” asked Koenig.
“It will be at least five more minutes until we can safely accelerate at maximum if we maintain this trajectory,” said the astro AI.
“That’s too damn long. What if we change course for the quickest way out?”
“That would take less than three minutes.”
“Better! Make the change, Astro. Tactical, you’re authorized to use the cannon to clear a path if that helps. I want to bring the crew up to speed. Com, give me inter-craft. This is the CO…”
By the time the ship cleared the densest part of the asteroid belt, Koenig had ordered the tactical AI to stop radar scanning and resume hull camouflage. If the Tong ship was their stealthy equivalent to the Javelin-class cruiser, which Koenig strongly suspected, then radar would now be unreliable in terms of detecting the enemy ship, but it would help pinpoint Excalibur’s position. He was therefore surprised to learn that the Tong ship, Tango2, was itself using active radar to scan behind it.
“Can we use its radar emissions to target cannon fire?” he asked.
“Accuracy would be less than thirteen percent due to the phased-array type of radar being used. Tango2 is modulating the phasing so that the radar pulses seem to be coming from directions jus
t different enough to throw off targeting accuracy.”
“How well can Tango2 target us?”
“Our hull orientation and the minimal cross section of the ship when seen from the front will reduce the enemy’s ability to see us down to less than five percent probability,” said the tactical AI. “Recommend employing evasion plan Delta.”
“Recommendation approved,” said Koenig. He mentally chided himself for not having thought of it. Plan Delta would make very subtle course changes that would reduce the probability even further in case the Tong ship attempted to fire its grasers at Excalibur hoping for a lucky hit.
“What’s the velocity differential now?” he asked.
“Doppler measurements of the radar waves indicate that Tango2 has already reached eleven percent of light, while Excalibur is still at less than one percent.”
Koenig wanted to smash something with his hands to relieve the frustration. The enemy’s head start had built up enough velocity that the range between them was increasing by 30,000 kilometers every second. And while Tong ships in general had less maximum acceleration than Javelin-class light cruisers, if this bogey was their stealthy version, it could be faster than their other ships. Excalibur might eventually be able to start closing the range but probably not fast enough to get sufficiently close before the Tong ship reached jump velocity.