"In a moment Commander." Flores replied. "Helm set a course back to Baden. Navigation how long until we can be berthing?"
"About fifty minutes, sir." Called out the Navigator.
"Right Lieutenant Siedl, you have the bridge. Commander, if you’ll join me in my office."
"Yes, sir." Weissensee replied as he fell into step beside Flores. "That looks reasonably good but I’ve spotted a few areas where improvement is possible."
"We’ll compare notes and see what we ha…"
"Captain?"
Flores half turned.
The speaker was Siedl; the lieutenant was leaning over the shoulder of one of the sensor operators. He glanced toward Flores.
"Sir, we’ve got something… odd on visual off our starboard side." He said.
"Define odd for me please Lieutenant."
Siedl nodded to the sensor rating who put the image up of the main display. It was just the stars, except for one small zone where the stars were rippling, dimming then brighten. The picture shifted as the camera zoomed in
"Okay that is odd." Flores commented to no one in particular.
"Hardware problem with the camera mount perhaps? Weissensee suggested.
"No, sir." Siedl replied shaking his head. "We’ve looked at with two separate cameras and they’re both showing the same thing."
Flores walked back to the holo and watched the display. He wasn’t sure if was imagining it but the rippling seemed to be slowly growing more intense. Weissensee joined him.
"Anything on Radar or Passives?" Flores asked.
"No, sir, both say nothing is there."
"You know, sir, this looks a little like a jump portal of a first generation drive." Weissensee suggested.
"Only a bit and we’re well inside the Red Line." Flores turned on his heels. "Navigator, confirm our position."
"Yes, sir."
"Sensors any idea on range?"
Siedl shook his head again.
"No, sir, the computer can’t make heads or tails of it."
"Do you want us to close up on stations, sir?" Weissensee asked
"Hold on just a mom…"
"Captain, confirmed position. Hundred and forty thousand clicks from Baden, one hundred and fifty inside the Red Line."
"Well it can’t be a jump-in." He drummed his fingers against the edge of the holo before turning away from it. "It must be a glitch somewhere."
"There must be a software corruption." Weissensee agreed. "I’ve never know dockyards to fix something without breaking something else. I’ll get engineering to-"
"JESUS!"
The shout was enough to send both officers spinning back toward the holo. It wasn’t like the hole in space a jump drive created. Instead a vessel seemed to almost extrude itself into reality. Ghost like at first but quickly becoming tangible.
The design was far cleaner looking than human ships, with little breaking its smooth lines. The ship was wedge shaped, narrow at the bows widening towards the stern. Half way along a structure like a conning tower rose from the hull. Astern of that came a ring of small engine pods and finally something like a cowling surrounded the rear of the vessel. It wasn’t the same type of ship that attacked Mississippi but the resemblance was clear.
Seconds passed on Harbingers Bridge in stunned silence.
Flores abruptly broke the moment
"RED ALERT! All hands to battle stations! All hands to battle stations! This is not a drill! This is not a drill!"
The crew exploded into action as officers and rating dived for their stations and their survival suits. Flores glanced desperately at the weapons status board. Harbinger needed just over three minutes to come to full combat readiness. Flores gave a desperate prayer that they had those minutes.
"Sensors give me range!" He shouted over the noise.
"Only fifty kilometres skipper."
"Shit! They’re right on top of us!" Exclaimed Weissensee.
"Engines all ahead flank! Helm hard to starboard, bows down forty five degrees!"
"Captain!" Shouted a sensor operator. "The ports in their bows are opening!"
"Infra-red spike! They’re preparing to fire!" shouted another.
The weapons board was still all red. Mere seconds had passed and few of the crew had yet reached their stations.
In a sudden moment of clarity Flores realised his command was already lost. They had been caught flat footed by a foe capable of breaking the known laws of physics.
"Coms signal Baden ‘I am under attack by a Nameless ship’ NO, don’t code it! Just send it!"
"Contact separation, we have four incoming!"
Flores spun back towards the holo; two pairs of missiles were streaking towards them.
"Guns?" He asked quietly. Weissensee shook his head, his face rigid with horror. Around him crewmen continued to rush onto the bridge while those they were relieving sprinted off to their own stations.
On the display the four missiles came curving in like claws around Harbinger. Each one adjusted slightly as they made adjustments for their final approach.
"Countermeasures on my mark. Point Defence commence! Commence! Commence!" Flores ordered.
"We’re being pinged!"
"Countermeasures full spread! Everyone brace for impact!"
Along Harbingers flanks chaff rockets blasted out of their silos and detonated between the cruiser and missiles. It was too little too late.
The guidance systems of two of the missiles were confused by the chaff. The first missed completely, the second exploded fifty metres below, the second pair scored direct hits. One struck the radar tower, demolishing the upper hull, the other plunged through the starboard side radiator into the engine room. The missile detonated less than two meters from the number one reactor, ripping open the inner casing. Three tenths of a second later, the cruiser Harbinger was vaporised by a flash of nuclear fury.
___________________________
"PO, I’m picking up something odd around the base." Said the only other person on the courier’s bridge.
Chuong didn’t budge in the command chair; cap carefully perched over his eyes. The skipper had gone below for a meal as their ‘short’ delay stretched into a second hour. As the couriers number two, Chuong took the bridge whenever the captain went off. It wasn’t a duty he objected to; for one thing it got him out of the engine room and away from Stephens moaning. Really, with L12 well clear of Baden’s transit lanes, it was a one man job but the regs said two people should be on the bridge, so Chuong rested his eyes while the bridge rating monitored the read outs.
"PO, are you even awake?"
"Yep, but unless you’re reporting that Baden has finally given us our uplink this is me not giving a monkeys."
"Yeah, but I think there’s something serious up. There’s a whole pile of radio chatter going out."
Chuong let out a sigh, with no gravity to hold it down the breath was enough to send his cap drifting away. Without opening his eyes he made a half-hearted swipe at it.
"You’re not going to be happy until I’ve opened my eyes are you, you bastard."
"Hang on we’re getting a signal on the main command band. Oh, that’s strange."
"What?"
"It’s in the clear, no coding or encryption."
Chuong sat up and gave the rating a puzzled frown.
"Alright let’s hear it."
"This Baden Command to all ships, we are under attack! All ships converge on Colossus, all ships are authorised to fire."
The two men exchanged a look of horror. Then Chuong lunged forward, flipped aside the plastic shield and slammed his fist down on the red button. Across the courier the alarms shrieked.
"Point us at the nearest edge of the Mass Shadow and get us out of here!" He shouted.
"On it!"
L12 slewed around as the engines slammed onto full power.
From behind them came a clatter as Lieutenant Malawati swam through the access way.
"Report!" She demanded.
"Skipper, we’re in the middle of a Goddamn war zone! Baden is under attack." Chuong replied. "We’re heading for the Red Line."
"How the hell did they sneak up on us?"
"I don’t know Ma’am and with respect I don’t want to hang around in this flying eggshel…"
"Contact! Bearing one, eight, three dash two, six, three, range one hundred seventy four clicks!"
"What! That’s impossible; it’s inside the Mass Shadow!" Malawati objected.
"Tell that to the radar skip. Heading change: they’re turning towards us!"
"Chuong, get below. Disconnect the engine and manoeuvring safeties." Malawati ordered. Chuong didn’t waste time acknowledging instead he dove for the hatch.
"What the hell did you do up there?" Stephens shouted as Chuong came through. The reactor was roaring almost deafeningly and with the engines a one hundred percent normal they were pulling two G’s with ‘down’ ninety degrees out from the usually accepted direction.
"Hostiles have just jumped in right next to us. We’re getting out of there!"
"But how the hell…"
"Not now! Just lose the safeties, all of them!"
Stephens heard the fear in Chuong’s voice. Turning he yanked open an access panel, ripped off the plastic sheet with the label warning never to do what they were doing and started pulling inhibitors out of their sockets. On the opposite side of the engine room Chuong was doing the same at another panel.
"Done." Stephens called out.
Chuong flicked on his intercom.
"Skipper the safeties are all off."
"Roger, hang on back there, we have incoming!" She replied.
Immediately the pitch of the reactor rose as it was pushed beyond its normal operating limits. At the same moment the ship went into a violent corkscrew. The three crew in the engine room could only hang on as they were thrown back and forth. The hull keened and groaned at the abuse it was being subjected to. Chuong knew full well there was a serious risk that the stress might be enough to open up the lightweight hull. But there weren’t many options, couriers didn’t have any countermeasures or point defence and they sure as hell didn’t have armour. That left acceleration as their only defence, but there was a limit to what that could achieve if someone popped up right in their lap.
"Hang on everyone, I’m going to have to dodge it!" Malawati shouted across the intercom.
The starboard engine abruptly went hard astern as the port continued to roar all ahead, sending the ship into a violent turn.
"Its misse…" Malawati started then there was a deafening bang that shook the entire ship and everything went black.
___________________________
Keaveney studied the contents of his plate with suspicious expression. They hadn’t managed to correct the problem with the sentry satellite before the end of their shift. Now at last off duty, their thoughts had turned to food.
Ironically dubbed the Château by the crew of Baden, it certainly wasn’t the best canteen on the station but it ran twenty four-seven and always served breakfast, lunch and dinner. So no matter what meal your body clock felt you should be eating the Château could supply. The canteen was currently in one of its quiet periods, with only about a third of the tables occupied. With their trays filled, Piper and Keaveney had found themselves an empty table.
"Would you stop picking at that and just eat it." Piper said around a mouthful of food
"You’re starting to sound like me Mum." Keaveney replied as he continued to move his food around the plate. "What do you think this is?"
"Well what did you order?"
"Pork."
"Well its pork then."
"Must have been a bloody funny looking kind of a pig. I think this has less real meat in it than a sausage."
Piper rolled his eyes and kept chewing.
Abruptly the alarms went off complete with flashing red lights.
"Crap it! Why is it always when we’re off duty that they hold a drill?" Keaveney asked sourly.
Around them ratings and officers vaulted tables knocking aside food trays and drinks in the mass scramble for the exit.
"Just move it Joe!" Piper snapped as he jumped to his feet. Without looking back he ran for the exit. Grumbling Keaveney followed hard on his heels.
Piper and Keaveney’s action station was at primary damage control, situated deep inside the centrifuge. They were running down one of the main station corridors when the explosion threw them from their feet. For several seconds the entire structure lurched and heaved, Keaveney landed on his stomach and went sliding down the corridor. As everything around him rattled and shook, he clung to the deck waiting for it to stop. When it did he started to get up, but paused with both his hands pressed against the steel deck plating. There was always a slight vibration from the movement of the centrifuge but now he could feel a slight… inconsistency, like an unbalanced wheel. Looking over his shoulder he saw Piper on his knees, he’d gone pale even through his dark colouring.
"We’ve been hit." He said disbelievingly.
Then the world blew up in their faces. Fifty metres in front of them an explosion ripped open the structure. A wall of fire came surging up the corridor enveloping several men and women ahead of them. But before it reached them it slowed, stopped, and then went surging back. The air started to follow with increasing force back towards the explosion.
"Oh God! Hull breach!" Keaveney screamed as the howling wind started to drag him. Up the corridor others were clinging grimly to the walls as the entire corridor became a giant wind tunnel. One of them lost his grip and went past screaming. He didn’t want to watch someone being pulled to their death but of their own accord his eyes followed the man. Then an emergency bulkhead slammed down abruptly sealing the corridor. The tumbling man hit the emergency bulkhead hard and slumped to the deck.
Only after several seconds did Keaveney let go of the wall and it took several more to get to his feet. He tottered, over to the rating that was slumped against the bulkhead. There was a faint hiss from the bulkhead, the deck had buckled meaning the seal wasn’t perfect. Probably good enough though. The man’s leg was bent to an unnatural angle and blood was seeping from his nose and ears but his pulse was strong and steady.
"We can’t help him."
Keaveney looked up at Piper.
"He needs a doctor PO. We can’t leave him here!"
"Yes we can. We’re in damage control parties, not stretcher bearers. We need to get to our station so get on your feet and get moving."
Keaveney hesitated. Another explosion, further away shook the station again.
"If we pass a medical team we’ll point them to him, now move!"
___________________________
Crowe slowly scrolled down through the file directory wondering which set of pictures to look at next. Photography was a boyhood passion that had continued on and off into adulthood. A quarter century travelling with the fleet had given him plenty of opportunities to indulge his passion, and even the small portion of the collection he kept on his personal computer included shots from planets otherwise untouched by man.
The other terminal in the cabin was also active. On the screen was a half complete letter, one that Crowe was struggling to finish. It wasn’t his letter of resignation but it might as well have been. Once he’d informed Celine of his intention to quit there would be no going back. His wife had never taken kindly to him dithering over personal decision. If he finished it quickly he could probably get it onto this week’s postal courier that was still hanging around somewhere out there. But really it didn’t much matter whether it was this week or next that the news went home. Truth be told, even after what he’d said the Berg, he didn’t want to admit that it was all over.
Switching off his own computer he considered for a moment returning to the bridge, and rejected it. Every time he went up the entire bridge crew tensed, he couldn’t really blame them, a captain taking heat from his own superiors could quickly take it out on his
underlings. He only had himself to blame for that, snapping at a number of personnel during the first month on board that created an atmosphere he hadn’t manage to break since.
Crowe started violently as the intercom at his belt buzzed urgently.
"Captain here."
The lieutenant on the other end of the connection sounded nervous.
"Lieutenant Colwell, officer of the watch. Sorry to bother you, sir."
"It’s all right Jason, what’s the problem?"
"I wouldn’t have disturbed you, but your standing order about anything unusual…"
"That’s okay. So what’s the problem?"
"We’ve seeing something strange on our close up cameras, sir. It’s some kind of distortion, we’ve been looking at it for the last five minutes."
"And it’s not a fault?" Crowe asked.
"No, sir, the entire camera subsystem is showing all green."
"Can you direct the feed to my terminal lieutenant?"
"Yes, sir, hold on a moment."
On his computer Crowe opened a program to accept the uplink.
"Coming up now, sir."
Interference cut across the monitor for a moment then the image appeared. It panned and zoomed in on the area of the star field that was twisting and flickering. Immediately Crowe felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise, his mouth went dry and felt short of breath.
"Do you have it, sir? Sir? Captain are you there?"
"Red alert." He whispered.
"I’m sorry, sir, I’d didn’t catch that, if you..."
The Nameless War Page 12