by Dietmar Wehr
Ripley got up from his station and went over to the Comm. Station. “Let’s hear that meaningless noise,” he said in a low voice.
The sound he heard could be speech, but it was just as likely arbitrary sounds generated by the speech filter from random digital impulses. At this point they couldn’t even be sure the signal was being replayed at the correct speed. He patted the Comm. Officer on the shoulder.
“Keep at it. You know what to do with this.”
The Comm. Officer sighed. “Yessir.”
They had made progress by the time Ripley’s four-hour duty shift on the Bridge was over. Six planets had been identified. One of them was within the star’s liquid water zone, and the ship’s EM receivers were picking up faint signals on a variety of frequencies from that planet. Ripley elected to wait until his next duty shift before moving to within range of the Tyrell-type detection system. He’d been awake now for 16 hours and decided it was better to move the ship closer when he was rested and alert. Unfortunately, Ashiana wasn’t prepared to wait that long. When she learned of the inhabited planet, she insisted on calling Ripley in the middle of his sleep cycle.
Ripley answered the persistent beeping of the intercom system with a sleepy, “This had better be an emergency.”
“Why are we waiting to bring the third planet within detection range, Commander Ripley? Surely your First and Second Officers are capable of supervising that task, are they not?” asked Ashiana.
Ripley swore under his breath. “Second Officer Ashiana, have you forgotten that there is no military alliance between your people and mine? That means, in case you weren’t aware of it, that you are on this ship as an observer only. I not only do not need your advice, I do not want it! Is that clear enough for you? Pathfinder will move in closer when I’m good and ready and not before! If you wake me up during my sleep cycle again, you will be barred from the Bridge for the duration of this mission!” Before Ashiana could respond, he broke the connection.
Ripley was annoyed to find the Odina officer already on the Bridge when he arrived to take control. He glared at her on his way to the Command Station, and she wisely said nothing. Harrow brought him up to date as she surrendered the Command Station chair.
“We’ve found what we think are all eight planets in this system. Only the third one shows any signs of life. No ships of any kind have been detected so far. Comm. has recorded and tracked two more L-wave signals, one of which is coming from the same direction as the first one. Senior Comm. is now convinced that the so-called meaningless noise actually is not speech. The other two signals have the same kind of gibberish after passing through the same filter. All ship’s systems are functioning normally, sir.”
“Very good, Cate. You’re relieved, and I have the con. Astro, have you got a recommended approach vector to extreme detection range of the third planet?”
“I have, and I’ve already passed it to the Helm, sir.”
“Let’s see it on the main display,” demanded Ripley. A tactical representation of the star system appeared with a curving green line.
“That looks fine. Okay, Helm, take us in at point four. What’s the ETA to extreme range?”
“At point four of light, the planet will be within detection range in thirty-four minutes, sir.”
“Everybody stay on your toes. If we detect a ship, we may have to bug out fast,” said Ripley in what he hoped was a casual tone.
Nothing happened during the first 21 minutes of the approach vector. Just as Ripley started to relax, the Tactical Officer yelled out. “A ship just dropped out of hyper! Range is fifty-five million klicks! It’s a super-ship! We might be close enough for them to see us! Tactical is updating!”
Ripley looked at the main display. A red triangle now appeared with a tail showing the direction it was moving. Ripley used his station’s controls to manipulate the display so that the it rotated to give him a better feel for the situation in three dimensions. “Designate this bogey as Tango1,” said Ripley. “It seems to be headed for the third planet. Let’s give it a wide berth; Helm, swing us around to a parallel course heading in the opposite direction.”
When the maneuver was done and the range to the other ship was increasing, Ripley let out a deep breath. The fact that the other ship hadn’t reacted in any way was fairly conclusive evidence that it hadn’t detected Pathfinder, and as the range increased, the chances of it doing so were dropping even lower. Ripley looked around the Bridge. He noticed Ashiana standing behind him with her usual poker expression. She noticed his look but said nothing. Cate was still on the Bridge too. He motioned her to step over to his station.
When she was standing beside him, he said, “When Tango1 is approaching extreme detection range, we’ll reverse course and head back at the same velocity as that ship.” Harrow nodded but said nothing. It was a cautious strategy, and that was fine with her.
Eight minutes later, Pathfinder reversed course and followed the super-ship. The surprise came just as the third planet fell into Pathfinder’s detection range. There were other super-ships in orbit there. Lots of them.
“How many did you say there were?” asked Ripley.
“Thirteen now, sir,” replied the T.O.
“Shit,” said Ripley in a whisper. He turned to look at Harrow and said, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
Harrow sighed. “They’re building up a larger force to attack the Odina system again.”
“Exactly,” said Ripley. “Tell Ashiana she can join the conversation.” Harrow looked back at the Odina officer and gestured for her to step up to the Command Station and stand on Ripley’s other side. When she got there, he said, “Cate and I think those thirteen super-ships will be heading to your home system soon. Is that your assessment as well, Second Officer Ashiana?”
“Yes,” was all she said.
When it was obvious she wasn’t going to say more, Ripley turned toward the main display before responding. “You don’t sound too concerned about the prospect considering that a third of your entire fleet was destroyed by just six of the monsters.”
When Ashiana replied, her voice was annoyingly confident. “My superiors understand the mistake they made during the first attack. Instead of heading toward the enemy fleet at point six five, they should have entered hyper-space for a tiny fraction of one of your seconds and emerged back into normal space at very close range. I’ve been told that’s what they plan to do for all future attacks. At that range, the anti-tachyon beams will not have time to disperse and will cut through those ships as if they were made of—” she waited until Ripley turned to look at her “—jello.”
Harrow and Ripley exchanged looks. They had already discussed the way the Odina fought the first battle and had come to the same conclusion.
“Do you think your superiors would like to know that a larger force is assembling here,” asked Ripley.
“I’m certain they would appreciate the information, Commander,” said Ashiana. “Will you order Pathfinder back now?”
“No,” said Ripley shaking his head. “Why do that when we can send an L-wave signal and remain here? If you want to compose a message for your superiors, I’ll have it sent to them. I’ll be sending my own initial report to Earth. If we keep that planet under observation, we may be able to see when the Tyrell fleet heads for your system and send a warning. In the meantime, we hunker down, watch and listen.”
Ashiana nodded. “I’ll return to my shuttle and compose that message now, Commander. Cate, I hope to play a game of chess with you later?” Without waiting for a reply, she turned and left the Bridge.
When she was gone, Ripley looked at Harrow. “A thank you for sending a warning to her people would have been nice, don’t you think, Cate?”
Harrow sighed. “She’s having a hard time getting over her ingrained arrogance. I think I’ll head back to my quarters now.” Ripley’s nod was her signal to turn and go. Ripley was actually glad for the silence. He had a lot of thinking to do.
Tyrel
l Fleet Flagship:
Torq strode into the Control Center and snapped his fingers. “I’m resuming control! What is our status?”
The officer formerly in control jumped up from the Command Chair. “We are approaching the Cyberline home world as ordered, Fleet Master. Contact with the Fleet of Fleets Master has been established. We’ll enter orbit in five hundred twenty-one cyclets. All is well, Fleet Master.”
“No sensor contacts?” asked Torq as he sat down in the Command Chair.
“Only one momentary contact that was so weak the Sensor Master declared it to be a false contact, Fleet Master.”
Torq felt his anger rising. “Did I not give standing orders to have all sensor contacts investigated regardless of how weak or false they might appear to be?”
“You did, Fleet Master. After consulting with the Sensor Master, it was my judgement that further investigation would have been a waste of time. I take full responsibility for this decision, Fleet Master.”
Torq was now on the horns of a dilemma. Failure to obey standing orders was a transgression that he should not overlook. On the other hand, he had also told his officers that he wanted to see them take the initiative and exercise their own judgement if they felt the situation warranted it. In this particular case, he didn’t think the situation had warranted it, but learning to identify when to use their initiative was part of the challenge he had set for them. To punish this officer now for exercising his initiative might send the wrong message to the other officers. After some further thought he felt he had a solution.
“I’m not going to punish you for having the courage to exercise your initiative and disregard a standing order. I commend you for that. However, you did make an error in judgement by thinking that the weak sensor contact was the kind of situation that warranted your actions. So, for that error in judgement, you deserve to be censured. In this instance, the commendation will offset the censure, and no further action will be taken. If you make the same kind of error in the future, you won’t get off so lightly. You’re dismissed.”
Torq wondered if he should order the ship to turn around and head back to where the ghost contact was detected. Doing so when the ship was this close to the rendezvous would be questioned by the Fleet of Fleets Master, and that was something Torq did not want. He decided not to investigate but couldn’t help feeling that doing so was a mistake.
Pathfinder:
Eagleton entered the mess hall and looked around. He saw Cate, waved to her and proceeded to get his lunch. As he sat down opposite her, he saw that she was almost finished eating her dinner.
“What’s the latest?” she asked as he had just finished his duty shift.
“Two more L-wave signals and two more super-ships,” he replied.
“So that brings the total now to…eighteen?”
“Yup, and they’re apparently still not ready to launch the attack. They’re just sitting there in formation in orbit,” he said as he started to eat.
“And how many different L-wave sources have been tracked now?”
He looked at her with an expression that said why are you asking me a question when you can see that I have a mouth full of food? She smiled at him and waited.
“Um, eight I think…no wait, it’s nine now. Yes, nine,” he said after swallowing his mouthful.
She waited until he had another mouthful of food and then said, “I haven’t seen much of Ashiana lately. Has she asked you to play chess with her?”
Eagleton nodded. “We’ve played a couple of times. She’s catching on fast. I wouldn’t be surprised if she gets good enough to beat you.”
After a pause, Harrow said in a lower voice. “Has she said anything more about me and her?”
“Not a word. Think she’s over you?” he asked between mouthfuls.
“God, I hope so.”
Eagleton’s urge to chuckle almost made him choke. “Remember what she said? There is a lot she could teach you,” he said playfully.
Harrow laughed. “Why the hell do I tolerate you, Gort? You just wait! One of these days I’m going to tell you to fuck off.” Before he could swallow his latest mouthful and reply, she stood up, grabbed her tray and walked away.
It was almost two days later when Ripley woke to the sound of his intercom. This had better not be Ashiana again!
“What is it?” he asked after activating the unit.
“Bridge here, sir,” He recognized the voice as belonging to Harrow who was conning the ship. “The Tyrell fleet is on the move. They’ve broken out of orbit and appear to be on a heading for the Odina system.”
“Okay…we knew this was gonna happen sooner or later. Send the L-wave warning to Odina Fleet Command, and notify Earth as well. You can tell them that we’re staying here for further recon operations too. I take it there’s nothing close enough to us to worry about, Cate?”
“That’s correct, sir.”
“Fine. Call me if there is, otherwise I’m going to try to get back to sleep. Out.” As he rolled over and tried to slip back into sleep, he couldn’t help but think about the Tyrell fleet. Those eighteen super-ships are about to get badly mauled. Ashiana is confident that her people will win this time. We should be able to pick up some useful data from incoming L-wave signals after that fleet reports back or fails to report back. I’ll be glad when we can call this mission complete and go home. And it was that thought of home that allowed him to drift off.
Chapter Five:
Torq watched the countdown timer with less than his usual level of anticipation. Only a few cyclets to go before this unprecedented fleet of 18 ships dropped out of hyper-space into the Odina star system. Why wasn’t he feeling the buildup of battle lust as he normally did? You know the reason why. You just don’t want to admit that you’re worried. No Tyrell fleet has been completely lost without a trace since the very first war. Have we finally met a race that can beat us? Am I wrong to be concerned that the overall Fleet of Fleets Master’s battle lust may cause him to lose this battle too? Where does my duty lie if the battle goes badly? The prospect of dying a glorious death against impossible odds suddenly doesn’t seem so glorious. The future of the Tyrell Race has to be my sole concern now, not my own personal glory or shame. That’s why I’m not ready to yield to the battle lust. I may have to make that shameful decision.
He looked around one more time as the timer was about to reach zero. “Stay alert, everyone!” he yelled.
Within half a cyclet of re-entering normal space, the tactical display updated and started reporting multiple ship contacts. Torq waited, his heart starting to beat faster now. The Fleet of Fleets Master’s T.O. would be assigning targets to each ship, and it seemed to be taking forever!
“We have our assigned target!” yelled his own T.O. “Turrets are tracking!”
“Fire as soon as you can!” yelled Torq.
“FIRING!” shrieked the Tactical Officer who was now clearly in the thrall of her own battle lust. Before Torq could say anything, the tactical display signalled a new update. An enemy ship has just emerged from hyper-space at surprisingly close range. Torq blinked. That enemy ship was not one of the standard Tyrell-designed super-dreadnoughts that the drone should have built. No, this enemy ship was much smaller. What in God’s name were these aliens thinking? As he tried to figure out the best response that his own six-ship fleet could take, another enemy ship suddenly appeared and then another! The trickle suddenly became a flood and Torq felt a shiver go up his spine. His ship shuddered in a way that was unlike anything he had ever experienced before.
“WE’RE HIT!” yelled the Engineering Master. “Section 55 and part of 56 completely gone!”
“What do you mean, gone?” yelled Torq. He was starting to feel his own battle lust rising, and he fought to stay in control.
“Something’s cut them completely off! Must be some kind of energy weapon!”
“The Gorgrix!” yelled the T.O. pointing to the tactical display. Torq looked at it and groaned. One of his six ships had
just broken in two and was now classified as destroyed. He quickly scanned the other four ship icons and saw that all of them were damaged to some extent; two had taken a lot of damage but were still in one piece.
“GET ME VIGON!” yelled Torq.
“The Flagship is not answering!” said the Communications Officer. Torq looked for and found the icon representing the Fleet of Fleets flagship. It was damaged too, and as he looked at it, the icon dissolved. The flagship was destroyed. That meant that Fleet Master Sorn was now in overall command of the three combined fleets. Torq looked for Sorn’s flagship icon but couldn’t find it. Five Tyrell ships were already destroyed, and Sorn’s appeared to be one of them. Torq realized with a shock that HE was now the senior officer and had to assume overall command. Two more ship icons broke up during those few seconds. Every remaining ship was damaged. How many could still enter hyper-space was unknown, and there was no time to ask the status of every Ship Master. This battle was rapidly turning into a disaster. If he didn’t act quickly, every ship would be destroyed.