by T. R. Harris
Chapter 37
“The large targets are moving away, my Lord, turning to our right ninety-degrees. Gravity readings have increased, yet are now holding steady within deep-space range.”
“Acknowledged, Guard-tech, continue to monitor.”
Enulic studied the track of the large objects. Only moments before, it had been confirmed that the objects were indeed disk-shaped and almost twenty-five miles in diameter. They were undoubtedly Klin, and each vessel that large could easily carry a population of twenty-five thousand or more individuals.
The Command-Overlord had shook his head in disbelief when first the thought of one hundred thousand Klin housed within those ships had dawned on him. There had never been a good estimate as to the current strength of the Klin population, yet none of even the wildest speculations put them at more than a million. And to find such a huge number of them contained within only five spacecraft meant that the Juireans may finally have solved the mystery of the Klin survival throughout the millennia.
It also raised the specter of more such vessels—arks in a manner—existing within the Void. Where there were five, surely there were more.
And Enulic bu Lornim was now absolutely positive that the Kracori Langril Nomar Polimic knew of their existence.
“Navigator!” Enulic called out. “Change course to heading one-eight-zero, down four. Execute on my command.” He paused so the various personnel involved in a fleet course change could perform their pre-turn tasks.
“Execute!” And with that command, the lead elements of Enulic’s nearly five thousand unit-strong force began to take a serpentine track following the giant Klin starships. The entire fleet did not turn in unison; rather the head of the fleet led the way, while other units began to fan out from the main body to create a large cone-shaped formation. Nearly a thousand ships now had a clear view of the space ahead—an extremely strong defensive posture against attack—while the bulk of the force remained safe within the cone.
In addition to the added defensive posture of the fleet, dozens of scout ships flashed ahead and to the flanks, while even more streaked off in multiple directions intending to survey this entire section of the Void. With each passing minute a more detailed picture of what lay beyond their current sensor horizons would be revealed to the Command-Overlord and his Elder. Enulic was filled with excitement as to what the survey might reveal.
Fueled by an almost in-bred fear and hatred, Enulic hoped he would find more Klin. More than anything accomplished in the time since the Reckoning, the final extermination of the Klin race would prove to be the fulfillment of a passion every Juirean shared, and had shared, throughout the ages. Enulic’s chest swelled as he felt an overwhelming sense of pride and purpose in his current mission. Today could be the day: the day of the Final Reckoning.
Chapter 38
The Pegasus shot off from the main Human fleet at near maximum acceleration for the concentrated-array gravity-drive. Adam knew they didn’t have much time to find the answers to what had happened to the Kracori fleet. The huge Klin ships were leading the fleet directly towards Elision—and the Juireans—and within ten hours, at the most, Kracori sensors should begin to detect the lead elements.
However, an hour into the flight, Adam received a message from Command. The Klin had changed course, and were now moving away from Elision following a more portside track. The course change had come abruptly and radically, and the Human fleet had slowed its forward speed and shifted course to compensate, at least temporarily.
With the three scouts in Lt. Kimball’s squadron running for their lives, no new data had come in with regards to the location and activities of the Juirean fleet. Drones had been dispatched, capable of more stealthy observations, yet without the speed of the manned scout ships, any new data was still an hour or so from coming in.
Fleet Command had wished to remain on course for Elision, yet with the unknown strength and condition of the Kracori—along with this menacing Juirean fleet in the vicinity—Admiral Nash was holding off committing his forces fully. Adam would be in Kracori territory in five hours. If the fleet could remain hidden from the Juireans until then, Nash would have more options—possibly.
At the present time, the Humans and Juireans were not at war, however, it was unknown what would result from a direct contact of the forces. With Humanity’s new directive of punishing any alien race that had wronged them, the Juireans definitely were on the list. Yet with a full fleet—and the Kracori to fight, too—Nash wasn’t anxious to open a two-front war.
The message from Fleet almost begged Adam for quick results. Until he reported back, Nash would be unable to finalize his plans. And Adam also knew that if it turned out that both the Kracori and Juirean fleets were at full strength, then probably the most prudent route for Admiral Nash to take would be right back through the hole in Shield. The fleet was nine thousand light-years from Earth; it could not sustain substantial loses and still function as a viable force, not this far from home. Support units were being moved into place along the path from Earth to Elision, but they would arrive too late to make a difference, not with the accelerated timeline for action within the Void.
As Adam watched the light from the Shield fill the very space within the Void in an almost iridescent glow, he instinctively knew something had gone terribly wrong with the planning for the Kracori assault. He was at a loss as to what could have happened over the course of five days to completely change the dynamic within the Dysion Void. As hard as he fought for an answer, nothing came to him. He would just have to find the answers in real time, and that was never a good way to go about military operations.
Chapter 39
“Lead Commander, we have detected a vessel entering one of the outer kill zones,” said the young Kracori conscript.
The steely-eyed Kracori officer approached the Operator’s station. “Which one?”
“Eighty-Nine, my Ludif.”
“That one is located on the opposite side of the planet from the Corridor. It is a single vessel?”
“Yes, my Ludif. Remote sensors picked it up traveling at incredible velocity.”
Lead-Commander Ioniff raised a bony eyebrow. As all Kracori at the central command on Elision knew, the ship that had wreaked havoc on the Citadel had fled the planet at an equally unbelievable speed, leaving all the pursuers far behind, until it had quickly disappeared off their screens. Could this be the same ship returning for another destructive pass on the planet?
“Activate the mines, Operator. If this is the ship that destroyed the Citadel, then it must be stopped before it can return to Elision.”
“Understood, Commander.” The young Kracori placed a series of commands into the computer. “It is estimated the ship will be through the kill zone in fourteen minutes, however, on their current track, they will enter Seventy-Six shortly thereafter. There are multiple opportunities to destroy the target before it reaches the planet.”
“Good,” said LC Ioniff. “I am creating a task-unit to monitor and destroy the vessel. You will be in that unit.”
“Most appreciated, my Ludif.”
“Do not let the vessel through, Operator.”
“As ordered, Lead-Commander.”
********
“This is odd,” Ruszel Crin said to Jym seated next to him at the nav console.
Before Jym could respond, Adam had already bolted from his seat and rushed to the station. “What’s odd, Ruszel?”
“These intermittent magnetic readings,” the green-skinned Tel’oran said. “They appear random, yet they fade as we pass and then gain strength as we draw near.”
“You said magnetic?”
“Yes. There does not appear to be any outgoing radiation, just a strengthening and diminishing of the readings, almost as if whatever is out there is gaining magnetism as we near, and then losing it as we pass.”
“What can do that?’ Adam asked.
“The only knowledge I have of any such occurrence is with passive detect
ion devices—actually manufactured by the Formilians.”
Adam reached across the console and pressed an intercom button. “Trimen, to the pilothouse, immediately.”
Almost before the sound of Adam’s voice finished echoing against the steel bulkheads of the Pegasus, Trimen was in the pilothouse. Andy Tobias and Sherri Valentine lingered at the doorway, curious what was going on but not wanting to add to the crowded conditions within the room.
Ruszel quickly filled Trimen in the odd readings he was picking up.
Trimen shook his head. “I am sorry, Adam, but I am a Celebrant, which is a religious post. I am a scientist as well, yet my specialty is in biology, not electronic technology. However, if I was to guess, I would say this is some kind of proximity trigger.” He pointed at the series of readings on the screen Jym had posted. “You see the correlation between the strength of the reading and our distance from them. They are stronger the closer to them we come at perigee.”
“What kind of devices would use such triggers?”
“Beacons, comm relays, magnetic mines—”
“Mines?”
The word instantly brought shocked looks to all in the pilothouse. Tobias entered the room. “This could be some kind of minefield the Kracori set for the Juireans, and maybe for us. If we get close enough to one of these mines, it could lock on. So far, we’ve been lucky.”
“All stop, Kaylor! Back-wells on full.”
“Be careful Captain that you don’t disrupt the gravity field in the area with a full-array back-well,” Tobias said. “You don’t want to pull one of those things into us.”
“You heard him, Kaylor. Slow down ... slowly. Ruszel and Jym, now that you know what to look for can you see them coming?”
“We will try,” Jym said.
“That was close. Good job Ruszel,” Adam said, patting Ruszel on the back. “You’ve earned your pay for today.”
“Am I to be paid for my assistance? I was not aware. You know that is not necessary.”
The pointy-eared alien actually smiled, sending his ears into a flutter, before burying his attention back into the readings scrolling across the screen.
Adam opened his mouth to explain the figure of speech, but then changed his mind. Sometimes it was better just to let the aliens figure things out on their own.
********
Adam had no idea how extensive the minefield was, so with each passing minute his frustration grew. They didn’t have time for this; Admiral Nash was counting on his intel.
After half an hour, the aliens at the navigation console no longer detected any of the magnetic mines, so Adam ordered full power and the Pegasus resumed its headlong rush toward Elision. But now they had to be especially careful knowing that passive defensive measures were being employed by the Kracori.
As it turned out, the Pegasus had been luckier than first thought. When the tracks of the magnetic mines had been plotted, it was found that the narrow focus of the gravity-well forward of the ship had been absorbing the mines directly in front of them. With a traditional, more diffused and distant gravity-well, the mines would have been able to operate as designed. The Pegasus would have been blown to bits within minutes of entering the minefield using a standard three-ring drive.
So when forty-five minutes later more mines began to appear on the screen, Kaylor was able to proceed through the field simply by keeping the side mines at a safe distance. They were also able to maintain their speed, which it was learned was the reason the side mines had not had an opportunity to lock-on earlier. All this new information was organized and relayed back to the fleet.
********
Operator Mannes Kelsum and the other three members of the task-unit established by the Lead-Commander were at a loss as to why none of the mines had locked on. The alien ship had cleared Zone Eighty-Nine without incident, and now they were in Seventy-Six, and still no lock or detonation.
LC Ioniff was furious. He called in his own lead, and soon a squadron of Kracori warships was dispatched to the area. Ioniff had wanted desperately for it to be his department that defeated the alien; now he would have to let that honor go to others.
And then Operator Kelsum noticed something strange. One of the mines was moving, not fast, not having locked on, yet it was moving along the exact same line as the alien spacecraft as plotted by the passive sensors. It took him a moment before he realized what had happened. He summoned LC Ioniff to his station.
“The mine appears to have been caught up in the narrow gravity wake of the alien craft,” he explained. “It is falling into the well, just the same as is the alien spacecraft, yet at a much slower rate.”
“But it has not locked-on?”
“No, it is operating independently of the metallic hull of the ship and simply following the gravity-well. It is a most-unusual event. The mine must have been situated in just the right location for this to happen.”
“Accelerate the mine to contact, Operator.”
“The mine will not make contact, not until the alien craft slows, my Ludif. The generators on the mine are not strong enough to effect an intercept.”
Ioniff thought hard for a moment. The mine would continue to follow the well, yet would always be far behind the vessel until it slowed. Yet the alien craft may not slow until it reached Elision, and the squadron sent to seek and destroy the craft might possibly cause it to speed away, not slow.
“Are there other minefields along its path?”
“No, my Ludif, and the vessel has not slowed during its transit of Seventy-Six.”
“No slowing at all?”
“None.”
“How could they do that and still survive?”
“Their very speed may be helping to prevent the mines from locking on. Those aboard the vessel have learned quickly.”
“Save your admiration for after they are destroyed, Operator,” Ioniff scolded. “How long until they are within the system?”
“Two hours at present speed, Lead-Commander.”
“And to squadron intercept?”
“The same. Most of our units were on station near the Corridor. In-system units are rare and located to the opposite side, the Corridor side.”
“They will have to slow when entering the system. That may be the time when we can stop them, either with the fleet vessels or with your mine, Operator.”
“I will continue to think on ways of slowing the vessel, my Ludif.”
“Very good, Operator Kelsum. You have done well.”
Chapter 40
“We have contacts! Multiple contacts!” a petty officer on the bridge of The Trident called out.
“Identify,” Admiral Christian Bergmann commanded.
“Small ... probes—and active.”
“Activate jamming and countermeasures.”
“Eight confirmed bogies, located at various locations along the fleet. We’ve been seen, Admiral.”
“Shit! Lieutenant Porter, is our jamming having any effect?”
“Not much sir. They came on us so fast that even a second’s worth of data would have confirmed our presence, and a burst transmission could carry an incredible amount of data. Jamming appears to have restricted any outgoing transmissions now, yet the probes may be storing data for later transmission, once clear of our jamming. That’s how our probes operate.”
“Then we have to assume our location has been compromised,” Bergmann announced to the bridge. “Get those damned probes out of our space. Any word yet on the position of the Juirean fleet?”
“Give it another five, ten minutes, sir,” Lt. Porter said. “Our own drones are just now arriving on station.”
Bergmann bit his bottom lip as he paced the bridge deck. “Let me know the moment the probes have been either destroyed or chased away.”
“Aye, sir,” another voice said from across the bridge.
“Petty Officer Levinson, get the Fleet Commander up here.”
“Yes sir.”
“Clear, Admiral,” a voice cried
out. “Clear space surrounding the fleet.”
“Helm, prepare for course change. Come about to one-six-five, up five, on my mark.”
“Helm aye.”
“Ready, on my mark ... mark!”
The huge Human fleet began a strong turn to starboard. It would take five to six minutes for all units to be on the new heading, but hopefully making a turn straight for Elision once more would hide them from the Juireans.
“Sit rep, Chris,” Fleet Admiral Jacob Nash ordered as he entered the bridge.
“We’ve been spotted. I just made a ninety-degree turn to starboard. That will head us back in the direction of Elision. To port would have aimed us for the Shield.”
“Good maneuver, Admiral,” Nash said. “Eventually we’re going to have to fight someone. I’d prefer it to be the Kracori and not the damn Juireans. This puts us in that position. Any word from Cain?”
“Just that they passed through a couple of minefields unscathed and that they’re nearing the Kracori system. He’s going to sweep around to the Corridor side and see if he can detect any units.”
“And if he finds the fleet?”
“Then he’s counting on the Pegasus to get him out of there fast.”
Nash stepped over to his command chair and slipped in. He called an enlisted man over and asked him to get a couple of coffees for the two admirals. “I think this seat is going to be my new home for the next few hours, Chris,” Nash said with a humorless smile. “It’s all coming down to the wire.”
Chapter 41
There was a lot of space traffic in and around the Kracori star system, but most was commercial in nature. Adam didn’t know what to make of that, yet. Either it could be from the Kracori military having suffered a catastrophic defeat, or they were fully intact and on station in another part of the Void. The fact that the system wasn’t full of military craft was the clue he was looking for.