by Andrew Beery
“Admiral,” Jason nodded towards the view screen. “We have arrived. As predicted, the Agur home world is on the other side of the sun. We should have line of sight visibility in twenty six minutes. We will still be about seventy five light minutes away even when they do emerge. They have a complex set of hyperfield dampeners in place so microjumping closer is out of the question.”
“Thank you for the lift, Commodore,” Cat said with a smile. “My team and I will take a shuttle from here.”
“And you are certain Admiral that you want to go without a security detail?”
“The Agur seemed quite insistent that it be Ben and I alone. I have a strong feeling that we are going to want this information and so alone Ben and I it will be.”
***
Eighty six blips appeared on Sinuta-Tor’s airspace security screen. The Agur monitoring outpost was located on a moon orbiting the fourth outer-most rocky world of the Agur system. It was an airless moon orbiting a desolate planet in the nether reaches of the star system. The station was fully automated. Its ultimate fate had been known since before the outpost had been built. For a race like Agur that could freely travel time… historical records need not always come from the past.
A message was sent by the station’s resident AI to a waiting probe in orbit. The probe microjumped to Agur Prime. Sixteen seconds later a thermonuclear missile overwhelmed the stations minimal shielding. A second missile reduced the outpost to molten slag. The eighty six Modos fighters that had jumped into the Agur system proceeded as scheduled towards the only inhabited planet orbiting the yellow type G2V star.
***
The GCP Shuttle Dakota was five minutes from orbit around Agur Prime when the red alert klaxon sounded. Cat immediately unbuckled and moved towards the bridge of the small ship.
"Report!" She barked while strapping into the empty navigator's chair.
Lieutenant Cochrane was busy with the sensor feeds and didn't glance up as the Admiral sat down. "Ma'am, it seems the Agur are reporting an incursion by Modos fighters. There is no sign of a mother ship. I'm sweeping as far out as our sensors can go."
"How many fighters are we talking about?" Cat asked.
The lieutenant paused to consult his readout. "Admiral... It looks like eighty six ships appeared on a remote monitoring station's sensors shortly before the station was neutralized. The ships are of a new design but are definitely Modos Syndicate fighters."
“That’s a lot of fighters… there has got to be a carrier around here someplace… unless, of course, they have their own jump drives,” Cat mused. She accessed the shuttle's AI with her encounter unit. This gave her complete access to the Dakota's sensor feeds. The power signatures of the alien craft were considerably more powerful than the GCP had seen before for ships of this size. It seemed the GCP was not the only ones to make power system enhancements recently. Her suspicions that there were other players involved seemed to be reinforced… reinforced but not absolutely confirmed.
"The fighter group has split," the lieutenant said in a quiet but professional voice. Before Cat could ask he had brought up two separate holographic displays that showed each group's relative position to Agur Prime. One group headed to engage one of the four orbital defense platforms that was powering up its shields while the other skirted the firefight and headed towards the planet proper.
"I don't think the Modos are aware we are here,” Ben said from where he was standing behind the others."
"I agree," Cat said. "Let's see if we can change that."
"Admiral I love the way you think!" Ben grinned while sliding into the chair normally occupied by the shuttles mission specialist.
"Lieutenant, raise shields. Bring weapons online. Realign our approach vector so we are between group two and the sun."
"Shields are up... Re-vectoring now," Cochrane confirmed.
"Target the lead ship and fire at will," Cat ordered. "A three second burst."
"Acknowledged Admiral. Targeting the first ship... Firing beam weapons now," Lieutenant Cochrane confirmed.
A single anti-proton beam lashed out at nearly the speed of light. The beam was itself transparent. However, as it struck the multitude of minute dust particles that were present even in a hard vacuum, a glowing nimbus formed along the path of the beam. The ship unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of the energetic blast was lit up like an electric light bulb.
Its shields resisted for several seconds but the beam from the Dakota was as powerful as a full size starship given its new power source. Ultimately the outcome was a foregone conclusion. The smaller craft’s shields attempted to shed the massive onslaught of energy striking them but in the end they crumbled. Energies and temperatures that dwarfed the surface of the sun slammed into the metal skin of the fighter and vaporized it in a fraction of a second. The small fusion power plant housed in the rear of the ship lost containment and added its fury to the expanding ball of fire.
Instantly, and as one highly coordinated unit, the other Modos fighters swung about and began to search for the as yet unseen and certainly unexpected opponent that had attacked one of their own. As Cat had anticipated, by placing themselves on a vector that put the sun directly behind them, the GCP shuttle was nearly impossible to spot. That would change however once they took their next shot.
“Fire on the lead ship...” Cat ordered "then microjump 5 light seconds to the far side of that formation.”
A beam lashed out and again a Modos fighter was taken down. However this time the other ships in the formation instantly locked on to the Dakota and fired their rail-guns. Fortunately before the kinetic rounds could reach the shuttle it had microjumped away.
"Does it seem like they are reacting too quickly and in too highly a coordinated fashion?" Cat asked.
"Yes ma'am," Cochrane answered. "It's almost like when we were facing the KayBees."
“My thoughts exactly…” Cat turned to face Ben. “Is it possible they have interlinked their ships and are under control of a single AI?”
"It seems likely," her friend said. "Or they may simply be slaved to a lead ship under the command of a very capable pilot. Either way this might present an opportunity."
Cat looked out the viewscreen. The distances involved were too great to see the ships they were fighting but Cat knew they were out there.
"Launch three cloaked probes surrounding those ships half a light second distant. Let's watch them a bit closer."
"Admiral... they spotted us. They are turning and are firing their rail-guns," Lieutenant Cochrane reported.
"Jump us back sun-ward 5 light seconds. Fire on the next ship in line... a three second blast then jump us 30 light seconds out of the elliptic."
"Firing... the third ship is disabled," the lieutenant reported.
"What do you think Ben? Can we keep playing this game... picking them off one by one?"
"Doubtful Admiral. Linking fighters is an effective way to give yourself a lot of punch but you lose the flexibility of the individual fighter. My guess is they will unlink and this will become a free-for-all."
Chapter Three – Game Master...
Cat watched the twenty or so remaining enemy fighters etch a lazy circle about the ruined orbital defense platform. The geostationary station had been an early casualty of the current battle. That said, the powerful Dakota was proving herself in the fight. Her shields were taking a beating and in several instances the combined firepower of the Modos fighters had threatened the little ship but her regenerative systems had quickly compensated. Her mere presence denied the Modos clear claim to their prize.
The ‘cat and mouse’ fight had been going on for more than forty minutes. The Dakota, under the excellent piloting of Lieutenant Cochrane, had managed to take out sixteen of the Modos attackers. Still this left over sixty of the enemy. The odds were clearly in the Modos favor but Cat knew that numbers didn't tell the whole story.
So long as the Dakota was free to harass the attackers, the Modos could not effect
ively exploit the Agur. They might be able to invade Agur Prime but they could not guarantee they could escape with whatever data they gleaned from the planet's massive library archive. That meant the Modos would have to first eliminate the GCP threat. Unfortunately for them, the Dakota was a far more capable ship. Access to external sensor probes and true FTL communications between the probes and the Dakota meant the Dakota could see and respond to the enemy fighters before those same fighters could see the Dakota.
Thirty minutes into the dogfight a large contingent of Modos fighters opened Hyperfield conduits and jumped out of the conflict. Cat had expected them to rejoin the battle from a different approach vector. Anticipating that move, she had Lieutenant Cochrane launch six more probes to cover the space surrounding the planet. It had been 10 minutes and still no sign of the forty plus missing fighters.
Cat had attempted to contact the Agur Head Archivist who was the planet's equivalent of a prime minister but the Modos had setup a series of radio frequency jammers. Since the Agur did not have a protection agreement with the GCP they did not have access the Galactic Coalition's quantum entangled FTL communication technology. In point of fact the Agur had their own FTL communication system but since such systems required matched entangled quantum pairs the GCP and Agur systems were unable to talk directly with each other.
Commander Ben, who had taken over weapons control, fired a short blast at another of the jamming drones. He had systematically eliminated over a hundred of the small satellites but it seemed the Modos had a never ending supply.
"You know, Admiral, I'm kind of surprised they haven't called in the carrier that launched those fighters."
"'I expect they will, Commander," Cat agreed. "I've sent a message to Admiral Faragon asking that the Yorktown be re-tasked to lend support. Normally I'd just order Ken to make his way here ASAP but the Mador and Yorktown are under orders to join the Admiral's battle group for Operation Lockdown.”
"Help would be nice," Ben said. "I don't relish the idea of taking on a carrier class ship with nothing more than a combat shuttle and a prayer."
"Well, we'll just have to make sure it’s a good prayer," Cat said with a quick smile.
***
Captain Nicked-Tail spit the mollusk shell out of his mouth. Under his mental guidance, the cybernetic Suhtian host he was riding reached forward with its trunk and tossed the discarded shell into the waste receptacle in the center of the dining room table. This activity had been repeating itself for several minutes.
One of the advantages of a robotic symbiot was that one never needed to feed it Nicked-tail thought to himself. The fact that his Uruk masters had made him nearly invincible was another of said advantages.
“Captain?”
Nicked-Tail looked up from his meal. His First Officer, Commander Herringbone, stood just inside the door to his private dining room.
“Go on Commander,” Nicked-Tail said with a wave of his trunk. “I’m just catching a midday snack.”
“Sir… Some of the fighters have returned early. We are receiving reports that merit your immediate attention.”
“Oh?” Captain Nicked-Tail said while wiping scraps of crushed mollusk from his mouth parts.
“Our new fighters are running into unexpected opposition.”
This got Nicked-Tail’s full attention. He leaned forward and spoke with a caustic voice. “Our acquisition analysis determined the Agur did not have any significant assets capable of resisting a hostile takeover – especially against the new enhanced fighters. Are you saying that analysis was wrong?”
Commander Herringbone’s host raised an eyebrow. He was responsible for developing that analysis… a point not lost on his captain.
“Negative sir. The Agur seem to be under the protection of a heavily shielded GCP combat vessel.”
“A single vessel? Can I assume the vessel in question is a heavy cruiser at least?”
Commander Herringbone looked decidedly uncomfortable. “Sir… it seems to be some type of super-shuttle… but its power signature is off the charts.”
Captain Nicked-Tail leaned back in his seat and studied his First Officer. Say what one might; the man was competent… even if he was an unsuspecting and unenhanced member of the puppet faction known as the Modos Syndicate. If this new craft represented the current state of GCP technology then it was even more imperative the Syndicate gain access to the Agur archives. The Uruk’s carefully orchestrated game plan could be upset.
He reached forward and toggled the intercom on his table. “Bridge… Nicked-tail here. Set a course for Agur Prime. Best possible speed.”
***
“Sir, we can be there in under forty minutes,” Ken reported to Admiral Faragon after consulting with navigation via his subdural com-link. Admiral Faragon had just relayed a priority request from Cat. The GCP Yorktown was to have been a part of a larger operation called Lockdown that was intended to force the Modos Syndicate to refocus their efforts on protecting their existing assets in the betaverse. That mission was now being reworked to exclude the Yorktown which was to be redeployed to Agur Prime.
The holographic image of the older man leaned back in his chair. Ken thought the Admiral had aged ten years in the brief span of the current war. It seemed ironic that the Galactic Coalition of Planets, an organization founded for the purpose of fostering cooperation and peace amongst worlds, seemed to find itself forever embroiled in conflict.
“Ken…” Admiral Faragon’s image said softly but with an intensity that left no room for argument. “Make your best speed. If Admiral Kimbridge is correct in her assumptions then we have a whole lot more riding on the success of her mission than simply retrieving a historical archive.”
The Yorktown’s captain nodded. “Understood sir. We’ll get there as fast as we can.”
***
Head Archivist Sna’st watched the antiquated 2D display on the wall of his office. His aid had wanted to update the device to a full 3D holographic display for well over two thousand years but the Archivist liked the retro unit and had resisted all efforts to update his systems. The display showed the distribution of forces circling his world. Everything was occurring as he had known it would for more years than either of the combatants had been space-faring powers.
“Marhius!” The Archivist yelled to his assistant in the adjoining room. “It is time my friend. Our guests will soon be here. Have the engineers activate the temporal transport systems.”
Moments later twenty-six thousand small metallic spheres in equidistant solar-synchronous orbits surrounding the Agurian’s primary began to absorb 86.7 percent of the radiation striking their surfaces. The spheres darkened to an absolute black and slowly began to flatten with one side of their ever broadening surfaces facing the sun. Because of their size and total lack of energy emissions the devices were virtually impossible to detect.
Meanwhile, a hyperfold conduit formed a few light minutes from the Agur system.
The Head Archivist watched on his ancient wall display as the GCP Yorktownemerged from the conduit. Moments later a second conduit opened a full 43 light minutes further away. The MS Tsunami emerged from this conduit. The players were finally here.
***
“Incoming message from the Yorktown,” Lieutenant Cochrane announced. Cat smiled. The cavalry was here.
“On screen, Lieutenant.”
The red-bearded face of Captain Ken Kirkland filled the view screen. “Admiral, we have begun deploying sensor probes. Once they have all reached their designated positions we should have a good idea when and if we have additional company. We should arrive at your location to lend a hand in about five minutes.”
“Thanks Ken,” Cat said. “We seem to be holding our own right now but I look forward to having a couple of extra squadrons of fighters help us with the cleanup. Be advised the Modos are using jump-capable fighters with greatly enhanced shielding. I doubt the Dakota would have been able to deal with them prior to her upgrades.”
“I�
�ll advise the CAG. We are deploying two squadrons now. They should be in your AO in minutes. Anything else we should know, Admiral?”
“Affirmative. When we first got here the fighters were acting in a highly coordinated fashion… they turned as one… they fired as one… almost as if they were under control of a single AI. We managed to use that predictability against them a couple of times. Unfortunately they’ve since adapted and begun fighting as individuals. That said… we’ve been caught a couple of times by five or six jumping into and out of synchronized operation… like a wolf pack they can deliver quite a punch when they do this.”
“Interesting,” Ken said. “Are they using FTL comms?”
“The way they tend to cluster within a tenth of a light second when coordinating movements… I would say not,” Cat answered. “For the moment that particular advantage belongs to us.”
“I’m guessing you don’t think that’s an advantage we’ll hold for long,” the Yorktown’s captain said over the holographic link.
Cat shook her head. “It’s almost as if there are forces at work balancing each side against the other. It’s a feeling I’ve had for months and its only getting stronger.”
Lieutenant Cochrane interrupted, “The Yorktown fighters are engaging the remaining Modos.”
The image of Ken Kirkland turned to talk with somebody off screen. When he turned back towards Cat his face was grim.
“Admiral, we’ve just confirmed the presence of a Modos Dreadnought entering the system. They jumped in quite a bit further out then we did. They’re just shy of forty-five light minutes from our position.”
Cat nodded as she scanned the tactical display which was even now updating with the relative position of the new ship. “It’s a good bet they don’t know you’re here, Ken. I’m going to need you to intercept them. Their signature is a match for the MS Tsunami… she’s a powerful ship. Try to keep them busy long enough for us to deal with the fighters already in theatre.”
“We’re on it Admiral. Yorktown out.”