by Gary Caplan
Vodun thought that the battle would likely take half a planetary rotation to complete. As long as Alliance reinforcements did not arrive, he wondered if perhaps he had arranged to eliminate the communications system too soon. The Estrian trans-galactic hyperspace communication system—what the Alliance of Worlds called the COMNET—was highly advanced, even by Varlon standards. The system had encryption coding that recognized approved users, and the transdimensional COMNET satellite might have emergency backup protocols if its broadcasts were disrupted. The Estrians no longer used the system, as they considered it outdated, but they had granted the Alliance of Worlds permission to use it.
Zelcalar ordered, “Weapons officers, fire plasma torpedoes at their orbital defense bases, then target ground based planetary defense cannons or torpedo launchers.”
The plasma cannons fired, releasing the energy equivalent of almost a thousand gigajoules, overwhelming the first station’s shielding, melting the armor plating, and obliterating the front half of the small orbital station.
One of the bridge officers reported, “Sir, the planetary defense is launching an antimatter torpedo barrage, followed by starfighter support. The yields are probably no more than a hundred grams of antimatter, sir.”
Both Vodun and Zelcalar then oscillated their arthropod head section chelicerae in amusement.
“That won’t be a sufficient yield to individually penetrate our battlecruiser defense screens,” stated captain commander Zelcalar. “Continue course to high orbit, then launch our starfighters in response, and notify the other ships to do likewise. Have the smaller cruisers stay behind for now; only the battlecruisers and this ship can withstand the yield in those torpedoes. They calculated poorly by not launching torpedoes with at least ten times the antimatter yield if they wanted to really cause damage.”
Zelcalar looked toward Vodun, then asked, “Sir, do you want those ships capable to begin landing on the planet?”
“Yes. After their torpedoes clear, let’s move to a lower orbit,” replied Vodun. “From there we can launch the strike and landing craft.”
C HAP TE R 2 3
PROBLEMS IN DEEPSPACE
From the command section of the Zeloc, Garfield contacted Robert Sheppard through a direct priority channel. Commodore Sheppard’s face and upper torso appeared in the transmitted image on Garfield’s imaging device.
“Robert, I wanted to inform you I will not be able to return to the Sixth Fleet just yet,” Garfield said. “Ambassador Alotar has been conducting the negotiations with the Rhyn, and I have been advising him and his team. Unfortunately, I will have to leave the negotiations. It seems a few of the medical and science ships sent by the Hegemony to a system in the Beta quadrant have not arrived. All but one of them were destroyed by Jiyarri ships with Accadian insignias and crew. This system is near the galactic periphery and will take even the Zeloc a few days to reach.”
“The Accads? Why would they attack your ships, and what did the surviving ship’s crew report?” Sheppard asked.
“I was informed the attack was abrupt, as if the commander of the Accadian forces was ‘flexing muscle,’ as you humans like to say, or possibly testing ship weapons. There was no clear reason reported for the attack. The surviving ship, Teluw, escaped because it had a transphasic device on board that allowed the ship to phase cloak. It’s not typical equipment for medical and relief vessels; the Teluw was one
144 of the science cruisers. None of our defense cruisers were present, and I’m not sure a few would have changed the outcome much,” Garfield said.
“So now you have a mission to assist the colony,” interjected Sheppard. “Well, I’m glad at least the negotiations with the Rhyn are proceeding well.”
Garfield paused and looked thoughtful for a moment. “Yes, the negations got off to a slow start, but I believe a treaty will be signed. There are some details that they need to work out,” he said, looking at one of his terminals.
“Unfortunately,” Garfield went on, “the Hegemony colony that the medical and science ships were going to assist has only one ship arriving to help. The stellar core in that star system is becoming unstable and will start to expand and become a premature nova. The Zeloc, a relatively nearby Lyramenian starship, and another Estrian vessel may be close enough to assist the Teluw in time. The Karratin vessel with the necessary equipment to stabilize the star was destroyed by the Jiyarri vessels. My starship and another vessel will go to start the stabilization process, while the others begin an evacuation process to rescue the system’s natives as well as the researchers in the colony base. I have the necessary equipment onboard Zeloc and will head there now.”
“I will see you whenever you get back here, then,” Sheppard said, then signed out, giving his former mentor a Star Knight salute.
Being a Star Knight himself, Sheppard knew this was just what the Star Knights did: they tried to save civilizations, not just their own race or group. As he was contemplating his next set of orders, Sheppard looked out and overheard some activity on the bridge through one of the connecting areas to the command alcove.
********** “Fleet Captain Grey, we’re receiving a transmission from the survey ship Alpha 10. They have come in range of the COMNET hyperspace relay satellite array, and Lieutenant Corwin has a report,” said Commander Zachary who was one of starflight control officers.
Fleet Captain Elijah Grey, who was still technically in command through the night shift, had arranged for one of the long-range, multicrew starfighters fitted with a science bay to conduct a survey. The ship had been conducting scans of a solar system in the same subsector as the communication relay, so it had had a relatively short journey.
Grey had earlier ordered them to alter course to investigate and then report their findings. Corwin’s transmission was delayed by a few seconds; at four hundred light-years distance, the ship-to-ship hyperspace transmission system was not as rapid or precise as the Estrian system.
“I ran that communications relay diagnostic program you suggested, sir,” said Corwin, transmitting a tri-vid signal from the science bay of the multi-person starfighter. “However; the system is still down and our scans show that the relay satellite is damaged by a form of plasma energy. I can tell by the detailed scan we recently did that it probably occurred no more than two days ago. A notable external portion of the COMNET array station is destroyed.”
“Lieutenant Corwin, I want you to access the Estrian protocols for that type of relay station satellite. They have a regenerative repair and maintenance mode,” stated Grey. “If you can find a way to reactivate it, we may be able to get an idea of what caused the damage. Rule out any comets or other stellar bodies that could potentially cause damage.”
“Aye sir,” responded Lieutenant Corwin. One of the bridge officers accessed the schematics and sent the link to Grey’s CDL visor.
“Corwin, we’ve called up the schematics, and I think if you can dock with the device, you can access the array,” stated Grey.
Commander Zachary, who had been helping Fleet Captain Grey, interjected, “Lieutenant Corwin, the docking device is several feet across and should automatically mold to your ship’s airlock.”
It was a few minutes before Corwin responded.
“Sir, I was able to access some schematics. One of the docking rings is destroyed. Luckily, this is a rather large device, and the other may be still be intact. I will initiate docking and attempt to activate systems,” Corwin said. “My science officer indicates we may need to transfer power to the relay satellite. We will transmit our data to you, and I will contact you when I have completed the task.”
After looking at some of the data, Grey was thinking to himself, The only reason for the station’s damage would be a hostile attack, as the satellite array was not that near any solar objects and would be shielded in any case.
Grey went back to his command console and accessed the inter-ship communications using his computer interlink device and a CDL visor; he still had to update hims
elf with all the functions of this station’s configuration. Since he did not see Fleet Captain Sherman in the fleet command alcove, he turned toward the communications officer and asked him to get Fleet Captain Wilder. As Grey began to sit back in the captain’s station and re-examine the information on the COMNET, he vaguely sensed movement nearby.
“Why do you need Captain Wilder, Elijah?” asked Commodore Sheppard, coming down the access aisle from behind.
Grey looked up and saw his friend who was also acting fleet admiral of the Sixth Fleet.
“I was so focused; I didn’t see you moving toward me, Robert,” Grey said, “especially since you prohibited anyone from announcing your presence on the bridge.”
“Yes, I prefer not to disturb the tranquility of the bridge,” said Sheppard, smiling. “What’s going on now? Any problems?” he asked.
“I think we may have a potentially serious problem,” Grey said. “A COMNET relay station has been damaged, and the signal rerouting to the Quellus Borealis colony is not active.”
Sheppard nodded and began to look at an infopad.
Grey went on. “I had one of the communications officers transmit a hyperspace carrier signal, bypassing the COMNET. We should have a response in the next several minutes. I’ve never heard of the COMNET going down like that without outside interference,” he said.
“That does sound serious. Let me see the report from Lieutenant Corwin,” said Sheppard. He looked at the viewing screen, which projected images of the damaged COMNET station, for a few moments. “I agree with you, Elijah; this is a serious problem.”
“Fleet Captain Sherman initially asked me to look into the communication lapse, but he is off the bridge now. I am actually due to be relieved by Captain Wilder soon. I was about to go find him when you walked up. I guess the occasional bridge check is not beneath you, even after your promotion.”
“That’s right,” Sheppard said. “I can’t seem to wholly leave direct command activities, and this problem is actually interesting, whereas reading fleet reports is more of a chore than I had anticipated. I can’t even pass a few reports to Garfield, since he’s gone to help a Karratin science facility.”
Doctor Grey nodded, knowing Sheppard was prone to tell him of problems that might be stressing him.
“Evidently,” Sheppard explained, “some Accadian-crewed Jiyarri ships attacked a Karratin medical task force, and only one ship escaped, using some phasing defense system. That small Karratin force was on its way to stabilize the star so the people in that system could live unharmed. Admiral Garfield’s ship, the Zeloc, will be taking up that task, along with an Estrian ship and a Lyramenian vessel.”
“That’s not good news at all, Robert—med ships under attack,” Grey replied. “It’s amazing, the impressive technology that the Hegemony evidently has access to, such as repairing stars. If they would only give or lend the Alliance of Worlds some additional defensive technology, then we could better deal with the Varlon.”
It was just at that time that Fleet Captain Wilder came onto the bridge, and then Grey gave a command report and turned the bridge back over to Captain Wilder. Doctor Grey stayed on the bridge for a while to complete his log entry and see if there were any further developments.
The communications officer was reporting on his rerouting attempt to Captain Wilder when Lieutenant Corwin’s signal came in from the satellite relay.
“Sir, we were able to access the restoration system and data from the satellite station,” Corwin said. “We have gone back into the T-200 starfighter and are waiting as the systems regenerate. The system is drawing power and some water from our supplies. I’ve never seen such a process. The station is restoring compartments, and its crystalline and organic structure is growing at a slow but actually visible rate.”
Corwin relayed images from his scans to the viewers; there was a several-second delay in Corwin’s images, as the COMNET was not active. After several minutes of data transmission, the time delay stopped, as the COMNET station relay came online in reduced activity mode. Lieutenant Corwin indicated that his science officer had found a data file with timed entries showing the last images. He was in the process of sending the information.
The data stream of transmitted information of the last images captured from the COMNET stations external sensors had a visual projection option that was activated, and the images it revealed was what they had feared. Images appeared of Scorpion type Varlon attack craft accompanying a Varlon J-class cruiser that had barraged the hyperspace communication station. Fortunately the array stations were transdimensional and existed partially in hyperspace, otherwise it would have been totally destroyed.
“Lieutenant Corwin, I would like you to eventually return to the Phoenix with a copy of the COMNET station sensor logs,” said Captain Wilder.
“If the Varlon had disabled the station, they would do that in a preemptive strike on a system,” Commodore Sheppard said. “Looking at the section of space covered by that COMNET array, I think the Quellus Borealis system is a likely target for a Varlon attack, because it contains both habitable worlds and large minerals deposits, and it has some strategic value.”
Sherman had also recently returned to the bridge from a sleep break and was glancing at the alcove’s tactical display. “Sir, I believe we can gather some starships from task forces one, four, seven, and fifteen which are closest to the colony in Quellus Borealis for a planetary defense mission,” stated Sherman as Commodore Sheppard moved toward the command alcove.
“Fleet Captain Wilder, I want you to select ships from task force one, and Fleet Captain Sherman and I will select several of the larger, more capable vessels from the other task forces,” ordered Sheppard. “I will approve the ships, and then Sherman will arrange for those ships with the faster hyperdrives to set course to the Quellus Borealis system. We need to get some support ships to that subsector as soon as possible. I think the Varlon have started to pick targets in this sector.”
C HAP TE R 2 4
BATTLEFOR QB7
On the seventh planet in Quellus Borealis system also known as QB7, planetary defense forces had been mobilized. In the prosperous capitol city of a large Alliance of Worlds colony, planetary defense forces were scrambling to enact protocols set in place for defending against invasion. Starfighters were being resupplied and launched, and patrol frigates were attempting to move to and reinforce the orbital planetary defense batteries encircling the planet.
Meanwhile, in the governor’s complex located in the planetary capitol city, individuals were arranging possible evacuation routes. The governor had just finished lunch and was heading back to her office when her chief of staff, Mister Robinton—a human originally a citizen from Mars—almost ran into her.
“Governor Golda,” he said, “two of our orbital defense bases have been destroyed or rendered ineffective, and most sensor systems are being jammed. Reports indicate a Varlon task force has entered high orbit.”
The governor, a blue-skinned Azurian, appeared only mildly shocked. She then composed herself before responding.
“What about our warning systems? How did they get so close?” asked the governor.
150 “Intelligence believes they traveled into the system disguised as part of an asteroid group. They must have blended in using their chameleon field. The Varlon ships must have been en route for a least several days in order to blend in and get close enough, Governor.”
“I keep wondering why the Varlon tend to hide; they have impressive military ability, and if their attack force is sufficient, they could overwhelm us,” said Governor Golda.
“It’s not like the Azurian methods of battle, I agree,” Robinton said. “The Varlon evidently keep to methods effective for them. It’s likely they will want to take the colony relatively intact and possibly use us as forced labor until they decide to terraform QB7 more to their liking.”
“Mister Robinton, what about communications through the COMNET—or did they jam that as well?” questioned the
governor. “Ma’am, we have not been able for the past two days to get any
accelerated communications; we only have a standard hyperspace relay,”
replied Robinton. “With the distance between this colony and the next
major planet or military installation, like Starbase 244 or Starbase 245,
it will take time to get a response.”
“Have any communications been received?” Golda asked. “I think
at least two satellites would have to be affected to account for this
degree of communication loss.”
“I was told we received a communication from a task force of the
Sixth Fleet. It was also at a standard hyperspace communication rate
from a military ship. A message from the officer in charge indicated
they were headed to investigate the Estrian COMNET satellite station
that was not responding. I believe we responded to them just a few
hours ago. They should be receiving our response by now. “ The governor asked, “Who do we have here that might be able to
help or who knows about the COMNET system?”
Robinton shrugged, went to a console, and accessed a linked
database.
“There are three people who probably have the necessary level
of expertise,” he said. “Oh, you know one of them—Fleet Admiral
Taylor’s daughter Sharon,” replied Robinton. “Governor, I also wanted
to inform you that the general of our military detachment wants to speak with you, and I can hear several people wanting to enter your
office behind the door.”
“I can hear them as well,” Governor Golda said. “Get a local comm
line to Commander Sharon Taylor in a few minutes. I need to ask her
some questions.”
After about a half-hour, the governor had finished giving