“If we help them, I guess, but that's not our problem, Mel. Way above our pay grade. We've got a job to do.” Looking over the controls, he added, “Though I'd rather be flying a fighter than this old brick. No finesse, and we're heading into some pretty dense concentrations of debris.” He frowned, then said, “We're missing something.”
“What do you mean?”
“This is a standard search pattern, right? I'm sure that the other pilots on Krakow would have done this. If there was anything to find, they'd have spotted it. You can't exactly hide a Starcruiser. Especially not if it still has power generation and life support. Hard as that is to imagine after all these years.”
“They built those beasts to last, Win.” With her good hand, she reached for the controls, snapping the sensors to maximum range, and added, “Though I think I see what you're driving at. What's the answer, then? We've got to follow some sort of methodical search pattern, and we don't have any details of Keranos' flight path. I know Rojek already ruled out the tracks the other registered pilots chose...”
“And there weren't very many of those, were there?” He frowned, then said, “Where would you hide a ship, if you had to put it somewhere you didn't want it to be spotted.”
“Not in this system. Too close to Sol.”
“Assume you've got some sort of reason for staying here. Maybe a drive failure. Something. You can't go somewhere else, and you've got to be here.”
“I give up,” she replied after a moment. “There's nowhere to hide, Win. Look at this. Just millions of tumbling rocks. We should pick up Polaris in a second. Hanoi should be able to do it, and Krakow certainly could. Her sensor package is an order of magnitude better than anything we've got access to.”
“You know,” he said, “we've been assuming that this was a lucky discovery, that Keranos stumbled upon it. The odds against that must be millions to one. So let's suppose he was a smarter bastard than we've been giving him credit for, and that he had some sort of clue, some trail he was following. Which would give us something to work with.”
“Sure,” Nguyen replied, looking across from her console. “But what?”
He looked out at the belt, the shuttle curving ever closer, and said, “What are the average sizes of those rocks?”
“Less than a twentieth of a mile. Some bigger ones, though.”
“How big?”
Flicking controls, she said, “Largest is a hundred miles or so, but that's on the far side of the local star. Some bigger ones near here, though.”
“And this close to the star, they'll be tidally locked.”
“Maybe.”
“We need exactly the right size. Big enough to hold it, but not so big that the gravity would do any damage. Something that would be null-grav, near as damn it.” Tapping a control, he brought up a sensor overlay, looking at the targets on his scanner, and nodded. “That's it. Eight miles wide, forty thousand miles from the insertion point of Hanoi. Close enough that he could make several trips, far enough that nobody was going to shadow him. Get me a course.”
“Computed,” she replied. “You think Polaris is inside one of the asteroids?”
“Can you think of a better place to hide it?” he replied. “If it's thick enough, it'll serve as a natural shield, block out any chance for sensors to pick it up.” Moving his hands back to the controls, he added, “Altering course. Intercept in fifteen minutes. Focus everything you have on that rock, and just in case I'm wrong, look around and see if you can find any alternatives.”
“Will do,” she replied.
“Kani to Hanoi,” he said, sliding on a headset. “Kani to Hanoi.”
“Shuttle,” Norton's voice said, “You're way off trajectory and getting worse by the minute.”
“I'm playing a hunch,” he replied, “and if I'm right, we'll be on board Polaris in less than an hour. Have Commander Norton and the landing team stand by.” Glancing at Nguyen, he added, “If I'm wrong, we won't have lost much time.”
“Permission granted,” Norton said. “Good luck, Squadron Leader.”
“Thank you, Hanoi. Kani out.” With a shrug, he added, “Not much they could have done to stop us anyway. Found any more targets?”
“No, but there's something interesting not that far away, on the surface of one of the rocks. Composition's odd. Artificial alloys. As though a ship crashed there. Someone fought a battle in this system, Win. But I still don't get it. If that was a rebel ship, then they won.”
“Maybe victory was more expensive than they thought. Keep tracking, and take a look at the surrounding asteroids. There might be some sign of life out there.” He adjusted the viewscreen, focusing on their target, a brown and red rock hanging dead in space, one side permanently turned towards the sun. The outside was blasted, craters smashed into the rock, some of them deep, deep enough that they might lead inside the asteroid. Just what he was looking for.
“Mass is light,” Nguyen reported. “Way off where it should be. That's confirmation that it's hollow.” She frowned, then added, “Hollow? How the hell does that happen artificially?”
“Remember what Curtis said. Those suggestions that a lost alien race was here, millions of years ago? Maybe Polaris found something interesting.”
“There wasn't anything in Keranos' data.”
With a shrug, Kani replied, “That doesn't mean anything. The man took secrecy to new levels, and besides, he wouldn't want to leave any hints to follow.” Looking across at the data flooding in from the other shuttles, he added, “Nothing from anyone else.”
“If Polaris is buried deep inside an asteroid, no wonder nobody ever found her. It'd be the last place that anyone else would look. Though if Keranos was following some sort of a lead...”
“Yeah, he might not be the only one. And someone else might have found it first. This could all still be a wild goose chase.” Glancing at his chronometer, he added, “Our people will be here in seven hours. Federation probably about the same time. It would be pretty ironic if they ended up fighting a pitched battle for a burned-out ball of rock.”
“Not the sort of irony that would appeal to McKinnon.” She looked up at her monitor, and said, “Closing on target. And Cordova has altered course. She's heading our way. Be here in about twenty minutes. You'd think she didn't trust us for some reason.”
“Can't think why,” Kani replied. He paused, then said, “You think we should have sent that message?”
“Little late to have second thoughts about that now, isn't it.” She looked at him, then said, “You did what you thought was right. We had no reason to suspect that we were being suckered into a trap, and you were only obeying your orders.” Gesturing at the starfield, she added, “All of this could still go very wrong, very quickly, remember. If there's some sort of hold-up, then our people will have a smooth run and be able to secure that ship. Now for the bigger question.”
“Am I willing to sabotage Polaris to prevent them from launching her.” He looked down at his console, then said, “That's not going to come up. They'll never give us a chance. Not with Cordova and the others suspicious.”
“But if you did?”
“I honestly don't know. Maybe Voronova's right. Maybe we have been watching and waiting for too long, hoping for an opportunity that will never come by itself. Perhaps we should have pushed the issue twenty years ago. I'll tell you one thing. If we don't secure that ship, the Council will stay isolationist. They'll never intervene, no matter what people want. Maybe they're still stuck in the past...”
“Waiting for the oppressed masses to rise up and demand the restoration of Commonwealth rule. Hell, they're as likely to go nationalist again, bring back the Terran Economic Community for real. You see the United African States reforming any time soon, Win?”
“I wouldn't know,” he replied in a sad voice. “I've never been. But one day, I will.”
�
��I'm sorry, I forgot about your grandmother,” she replied.
Frowning, he said, “I've been trying to work out what she would have done, if she'd found herself in the same situation that we're in. I honestly don't know. She was as loyal as they came, dedicated to the cause of liberating Earth, but what does that actually mean these days.” He looked down at the jumpsuit he was wearing, and said, “When I put on the Commonwealth uniform, I was ready to beat down the Federation by myself. I felt ten feet tall. Now I don't know. Not any more. And that scares the hell out of me, Mel, because if I'm not a Commonwealth officer, what the hell am I?”
“Maybe all of this is exactly what we've been needing for years,” Nguyen mused. “A chance to make things right, and to clean up the mess our ancestors left behind. I know Voronova thinks so. She's not going to come back with us, whatever happens. And if Hanoi gets destroyed, we're going to have to do some fancy footwork to clear her name. Assuming we choose to.”
“She's one of us, whether she knows it or not, whether she likes it or not,” Kani replied. “That isn't even a question, Mel.” A light flashed onto his console, and he added, “Three minutes to target. Beginning deceleration. There's not enough mass for us to form a stable orbit, but I think I can station-keep without too much trouble.” Firing a series of pulses from the thrusters, he added, “I'm going to try and swing around the back. Tight-beam focus on the surface of that rock, and if you see anything, holler.”
“On it,” she replied, all duty once more, peering down at the sensor display, frowning at the readings that were flooding in through her sensors. “Mass way down, and a lot of surface damage. As though the rock's been bombarded, and recently. Within the last few years. There's a halo of debris close by, but nothing we need to worry about. No rocks big enough to worry the hull.”
“Few years? Twenty?”
“Could be,” she said. “Hey, slow down. Slow right down. I'm just picked up something, just for a second. Can you head back the way we came?”
“Sure,” he replied. “Velocity with respect to the rock's damn near nothing. Firing thrusters.”
Nguyen threw a switch, and for a second, a loud whine echoed through the overhead speakers, a repeating pulse that could have no natural origin. It had to be artificial. Seconds later, the communication system confirmed what they both knew. A Federation beacon. Military design.
“Code prefix, Nine-Niner-Dash-Three-Alpha,” Nguyen said, struggling to mask her excitement. “Win, that's Polaris.”
Tapping a control, Kani said, “Hanoi, we've just picked up a beacon that identifies itself as being from Polaris, coming from the interior of the rock we're orbiting. We're moving in closer to investigate. Don't be surprised if we drop off your screens for a while.”
“Curtis here. Are you sure?”
“Computer trace confirms it. A perfect match.” Looking across at the data absorbed from the brief communications pulse, streaming across two of his consoles, he added, “No doubt, Commander. All identification signatures are correct. Though it might not be the ship itself.”
“I'm heading out to you now, Squadron Leader. Proceed with caution. Curtis out.”
“Hey, Win, I've got something,” Nguyen said. “I'll be damned. I think we've found our way in. A fissure at the bottom of one of the craters.” She frowned, then added, “Too small for a Starcruiser, though. We're going to struggle.”
“You know how I love a challenge,” he replied. “Give me a course.”
A dotted line flashed onto the viewscreen, and Kani gently guided the shuttle into the bowels of the asteroid, throwing on a searchlight with the touch of a control, the beam shining from the rocks as he lightly tapped his thrusters, flying through on minimal momentum. A rocky outcrop reached out towards him, and he made a quick adjustment to dive past it.
“This is recent,” Nguyen said. “They've dug themselves in. Shaped charges, maybe.” She paused, then said, “Watch it, Win!”
The fissure abruptly came to an end, Kani only just slamming on the thrusters in time to stop them careening into the rock. Tangled boulders blocked the way, and with a thin smile, Kani turned the ship around, lining up to point the main engines at the rockfall.
“Tell me you aren't doing what I think you are doing,” Nguyen said. “You could bring the roof down pretty damned easily.”
“We don't have time to dig our way through, and the rock can't be that unstable or Keranos would never have been able to pull this off. Hold on.” He tapped a control for an instant, roaring flame shooting from the rear of the shuttle, the thrusters instantly snapping into life to counter the thrust. For a second, he thought he had failed, was preparing for a second blast, but gradually the rocks began to tumble away, revealing a huge cavern inside, miles wide, an inky mass.
“Win,” Nguyen said. “Win, there's something in there. And I think...”
Kani played the searchlight around, the beam flashing onto a metal hull, racing down the side of it, exposing airlocks, turrets, antenna, a burned-out spot where a temporary patch had been rigged. And finally, the name of the ship, proudly emblazoned for all to see, the paint still fresh and clear after all these years.
Polaris.
“I'll be damned,” Nguyen replied, playfully punching Kani in the shoulder. “I'll be damned, Win. We've done it! We've found the son of a bitch! Minimal power readings, trace gasses suggesting life support systems functional, internal temperature nominal. Just as advertised.”
“Kani calling Curtis,” the pilot said, turning the gain as high as he dared. “Kani calling Curtis. Do you read me?”
“I read you,” Curtis replied. “Very faint, though. Can you boost your signal?”
“You'll be close enough in a minute that it won't matter, Commander. We've found her. Right in the heart of this asteroid. And as far as I can tell, she's intact.” There was a long pause, and after a few seconds, Kani said, “Do you read me, Commander?”
“I heard,” Curtis said with a deep sigh. “I just… Thank you, Squadron Leader. I truly mean that. Hold position. We're following your beacon. We'll be there in ten minutes. Out.”
“And now,” Nguyen said, “now the race really begins.”
Chapter 15
The shuttle skimmed low over the surface of the asteroid, a grinning Montgomery at the controls, while Curtis looked over the pilot's shoulder, peering through the viewscreen, anxious for the first glimpse of the ship waiting within. It had been twenty years since he'd last seen Polaris, twenty years of bitter despair and lonely misery. As the shuttle ducked through the fissure, following the trail pioneered by Kani, the decades dropped away, a smile curling his lips as he saw the achingly familiar lines of the ship within.
Polaris.
Nobody could call her beautiful. She hadn't been designed with aesthetics in mind. A stubby cylinder with engines at the rear, the intricate traces of the Tau Drive wrapped around her core, with turrets positioned at the fore, the ferocious primary armament, backed up by the point-defense cannons scattered with strategic randomness around the hull. Aside from a few scars on her mid-section, temporary patches placed in position by her final crew, she seemed intact, as though she could simply fly out into space immediately. Waiting for her prince to bring her back to life once again, just as he had been waiting for those dark years on Titan.
“Squadron Leader Kani is standing by, sir,” Montgomery said. “He'll follow us in. Roxy's heading over with the engineering teams and the balance of the crew. They'll be here in ten minutes.” Looking up at him, he asked, “How do you feel, Commander?”
“Like a million credits, Spaceman,” Curtis replied, turning to the rear. He felt it, as well. More alive than he had been in years, the haze of the last two decades fading away in a matter of moments. Belatedly, he reached into his pocket, taking out the last of the pills Cordova had given him on their departure from Titan, swallowing them dry. “Telemetry, Fel
ix?”
“We're starting to get readings now. I think Kani's approach must have triggered something. There's auxiliary power, pretty low but enough to get things started. Temperature's down a bit, below freezing, but nothing we can't handle.” He paused, then added, “Interesting.”
“What?”
“There's pressure inside, but no oxygen. We'll need to use respirators at first. There's nothing seriously wrong with the life support system, though. Someone decided to put this ship into mothballs, I guess.” Looking up at Curtis, he added, “It'll have done a pretty good job of protecting the primary systems. And we'll be able to work in there without suits.”
“Take us in, Monty,” Curtis said, moving to the airlock. “Go for the hangar deck. We'll go in through the emergency airlock, and Felix and I can make our way to the bridge from there.”
“Just the two of you, sir?” Sokolov asked.
“For the moment. We'll need to fire up the main systems before you can do anything, and that's going to take my command codes.” The shuttle smoothly drifted in position, gliding into place beside the vast hull, a wall of metal seemingly having no end. It was eerie to not see the stars, only bare rock all around, the two searchlights from the orbiting shuttles the only illumination on the hidden ship within. With a loud report, the shuttle found its target, docking clamps locking into position. Sliding on a respirator, Curtis moved to the hatch, entering his familiar twelve-digit code sequence to break the seal.
The doors slid open, revealing a long, empty corridor ahead, lights flickering on as they registered the first motion in the ship since Keranos' visit. Stenciled text littered the walls, maintenance schedules dating back to the Uprising, and one of the maintenance hatches was open, tools scattered on the floor.
Starcruiser Polaris: Blood of Patriots Page 15