“The Enxy Sea will be our engagement zone,” Dalton continued. “There will be two teams comprised of various vessels from all our combined fleets. Team One will be commanded by me aboard Zeus directing the engagement. Team Two’s job is to infiltrate the engagement zone and capture a buoy marked by a comm signal. Team One’s job is to stop them.”
The engagement zone lit up with colors as a fleet dispersal pattern passed over the image. Lee knew the pattern would change during the engagement, but he studied the field anyway. Dalton was not the greatest tactician and could be sloppy at times. If he tipped his hand here it would be disastrous for the game. A red area opened on one end of the field and a blue area opened on the other. The areas appeared to have been cleared of debris just for the game. Celestial drift would eventually push the cloud back together, but for now the free zones appeared clean.
“This is the first of our informational sessions. I’m letting everybody in on this briefing. Team leaders will be giving their own briefings later. It’s a simple game of capture the flag. In our first engagement we don’t want any problems. It’s a snatch and grab and get back to the safe zones. Safe zones will be designated for each team. Are there any question?”
A voice rang out from the stars and the assembled captains faded back into view. It was a strange, surreal sight to see the men and women floating in space, some raising their hands. The captain two seats over had been the one to call out for attention. Lee thought he looked familiar but could not place the name.
“Captain Dalton,” said the human captain with pale skin and dark eyes. “What are the limitations of the game? Will we be free to open engage or will we be using limiters?”
“Alliance fleet engineers will be disabling your plasma flow systems and reconfiguring shields to register targeting lasers only. They will simulate the hits on any ships in the zone. The field will suppress your targeting systems so your crews will need to aim manually. Limiters will be installed on your propulsions systems to limit speed and maneuverability. This is a storm-front simulation, and we want to make sure you folks don’t get too far away if you get tired of the game.”
There was a murmur of protest, as well as a few stifled laughs as the captains took the information in. Lee could already hear the protests from Roy Booth about Alliance engineers crawling over his systems, but he would have no choice. Manually firing during the simulation was strange, though. His fire crew had not had time to test the new control systems. Newly automated systems had meant giving up some of his senior weapons officers, and he hadn’t tested the younger crew members. He had thought to schedule drills while they were in M-space, but the strange jump had thrown his plans awry.
“What is the make-up of the teams?” asked one of the Ch’Tauk captains. “Will the engagement be even, or will the humans simply be blasting at the Imperial Fleet?”
“The fleets will be mixed. In fact, the buoy will be guarded by an Imperial Fleet vessel. The teams are integrated but not even. Team Two will be a simple strike force composed of only five ships. The remainder of the fleet will be spread out to guard.”
“Alright,” Lee said, raising his hand to get Dalton’s attention. “I’ll bite. Who is commanding the second flotilla?”
“You are, Captain Pearce,” replied Dalton with a simple smile. Apparently command wants to test out your new systems, and I thought this would make a capable test.”
“I thought you might,” Lee replied. “Who’ll be making up the rest of my team?”
“You and four members of the Ch’Tauk Imperial Fleet will be infiltrating and capturing the buoy in slightly less than twenty hours, Captain,” Dalton said. “For the duration of the games I will be acting as fleet captain, directing all movements of Team One and making sure the standard engagement rules will be followed. Now, if there are no more questions, I’ll let you all get to work.”
Dalton waved his hand and the briefing room reappeared. The other captains stood and began to speak to each other in small groups. The tense exchange between the men had not gone unnoticed. Lee’s reputation preceded him these days, but he had kept his attitude towards Dalton under control. Lee stood and walked through several of the other captains to find Na’Tora. The Ch’Tauk was staring intently at a data pad and trying not to bump into any of the hologram captains.
“Commander,” Lee ordered his XO, “head to the bridge and begin preparations for battle. I still have a few more questions I need answered.”
“Captain, do you not believe any further questions would anger the captain? I have difficulty with human interaction, but I believe he was displaying anger.”
“Your instincts are right, Na’Tora. I’m not sure it was anger, but definitely annoyance,” Pearce replied. “In any case, yes, it’s about to go to full-blown rage, and I don’t want you here to examine it. Go.”
“Yes, Captain,” replied the Ch’Tauk, bowing slightly as he moved to the door. “In my culture, such a thing would mean a commander was about to die, but in this case I don’t believe you are in any danger. So I will go.”
Lee took a moment to watch the alien leave the room. There were still so many things about the Ch’Tauk he didn’t understand or like. It still made him uncomfortable to think he was some kind of hero to the former enemy. He had grown to hate them for so long for what they had done to his people and his family. This forced entanglement felt wrong and Lee couldn’t shake the feeling it would last only as long as one side needed the other. After that, he didn’t want to consider another war with the aggressive species.
“Captain Dalton,” Lee called, approaching the man’s image. “May I have a word?”
“Pearce, I thought you might want to talk,” Dalton replied, handing over a signed data pad to an unseen aide. “I need to get my people ready, Captain. What can I do for you?”
“Why Resolute?” Lee asked. “There’s a whole fleet out there and you task one battleship with this?”
“Losing faith in your ship? That doesn’t sound like the brave hero Lee Pearce to me,” Dalton replied, a wide smile breaking across his dark face. “I would have thought you would enjoy this sort of thing. Hopeless odds and a lone ship against the fleet … it sounds like one of those novels they’ve been writing about you.”
“This is no fairy tale, Franklin. If you were the one to request us so you could take me down a peg, then you must know I won’t stop until I win.” Lee pressed a finger through Dalton’s chest. “If you tell me my ship is supposed to capture that buoy and return to the safe zone, that’s what I will do.”
“You are so brave in the face of overwhelming odds, Lee,” Dalton replied. “If I had an imager I would take a picture for the cover of the newest book.”
Lee dropped his hand, flexing his fingers into tight fists. He didn’t want Dalton to see his anger. Had he not been a hologram, Lee would be tempted to knock him on his ass. Instead he took a deep breath and looked down at his feet. The sight of the man looking more like his father each time he saw him was enough to bring out the rage of their first encounter. When he looked back, Dalton had stepped back and turned to answer a final question from one of the Ch’Tauk commanders. Lee stepped in closer, interrupting the conversation.
“Do you want to make this interesting?” Lee challenged the fleet captain.
“Interesting?” Dalton replied, turning back to stare down at Lee. “I guarantee you this will be one of the most entertaining things I have ever done. I don’t see how it could get more interesting. What did you have in mind?”
“Oh, it’s not much. I just thought you might want to sweeten the pot a bit,” Lee said with a slight grin. “How about a friendly wager between us two captains?”
“We have never been friends, Lee,” Dalton replied. “What do you want? You want me to resign my commission or something?”
“Oh no,” Lee said. “Not that. Besides, I know you wouldn’t keep that bet anyway. No, I have something better than that in mind. All I have to do is get the buoy and get it back
to the safe zone in one piece, right?”
“That’s right,” Dalton said. “And all I have to do is stop you. What do you have in that devious little mind of yours?”
Lee smiled. It was about to get interesting indeed.
6
The signal for the game to begin was a single tone broadcast across the entire Sea. Resolute and her escorts were positioned two hundred thousand kilometers from the rest of the fleet. They had been directed to enter and disappear as soon as possible. Lee had studied the Enxy region while waiting for the engagement to begin. The area was studded with magnetic fields which would play havoc with scanners and make detecting enemy ships difficult. Communications would be limited to short bursts between the battleship and the Ch’Tauk commanders. For the duration, he had given the ships numbers.
“Entering the field now, sir,” called Josh Goldstein. “Two and Four are right behind.”
“Are we still in contact with One and Three?” Lee asked Kama Yu.
“Reading telemetry for the Ch’Tauk,” Yu responded, twisting a dial on the panel in front of her to clarify the signal. “We are starting to receive signal degradation but I still have them.”
“Never doubted you,” Lee replied with a slight grin. “Na’Tora, are you sure your people understood their orders?”
“You mean were they intelligent enough to understand ‘Stay close?’” the Ch’Tauk commander replied. “Yes; I believe they were, Lo’Pearce.”
Lee shrugged off the insult. He knew his prejudice against the alien race was hard to break, but this was not the time. He pulled up the holographic projection built into his chair. A tactical scan of the area blinked into existence around his head. There was a static sizzle to the projection that made Lee’s head swim. He tried to spot the Ch’Tauk escort frigates on the projection, but they were fading fast.
“Are they moving out of position?”
“I think so,” Kama replied. “I am having a hard time keeping them in sensor range.”
“Na’Tora?” Lee asked. “I thought you told them—”
“It is not my people who are straying, Captain,” the XO replied. “It is Resolute. Mister Goldstein, adjust course heading to compensate for twenty-seven percent drift at three-two mark four.”
Josh looked back to the captain. Lee nodded before looking back to his first officer. The alien was standing over the sensor console behind him, staring with his multifaceted eyes at one scanner display. The crewman responsible for the console was leaning far away from the first officer. He had pushed his chair over almost far enough to interfere with the engineering console.
“Mister Fowler,” Lee began, staring at the officer. “Are you unable to work your console?”
“But, sir, I—”
“If you’re unable to perform your duties, then I have no choice but to bring someone up here that can, Mister Fowler,” Lee said, standing and turning on the man.
“Yes, sir. I’m sorry, sir, but—”
Lee watched for a moment longer as the man glanced up at Na’Tora. He swallowed hard and leaned back to his console. Na’Tora had stood still during the exchange. As Fowler began tapping his console and operating the scanners, Lee saw the Ch’Tauk look back to the main screen. For just a moment, the two men looked into each other’s eyes. Lee could see his own face reflected in the facets of his first officer’s eyes. Instead of waiting for any response, Lee turned back to the screen to see the static beginning to clear.
“I’ve got them back, Captain,” Kama Yu said, unfazed by the recent exchange. “They are following predetermined course and keeping speed. I’m getting telemetry from Two and Four, but One and Three are still out of range.”
“Well, they’re just going to have to keep an eye on us for once,” Lee said, returning to his seat. “Goldstein, bring us up forty-eight degrees.”
“Captain?” Josh replied, turning his head for a moment. “That’s not what—”
“I know, but I don’t trust Dalton not to have found out our course,” Lee replied. “I want to get us somewhere we can keep an eye out for them. Fowler, give us a tight sweep directly below. Kama, relay to the escorts through the telemetry what the plan is. I want to move up and stay still. Have them spread out twenty kilometers off each cardinal point. Let’s throw out the net. Goldstein, once we reach thirty-K up, level off and change course. I want to go towards them.”
“Sir?” Goldstein asked. “I think you need to see this.”
Goldstein tapped a control and the view on the big projection changed. Instead of the staticky glare of the Enxy Sea, Resolute was now in full view. There was a moment of pride as he saw his ship in her full glory. The radiation spikes in the Sea kept the area slightly illuminated, and the dark grey of his ship’s hull made her stand out. The moment passed, however, as the image corrected for the radiation and Lee saw what had attracted Josh’s attention. As his ship moved through the thin layer of particles, waves of distortion were radiating away. Resolute’s shields appeared to be pushing the sea away and creating a wake which was plainly visible to a ship’s scanners.
“Where’s that feed coming from?” Lee asked. “Is it one of the Ch’Tauk ships?”
“Aye, sir,” Fowler called from behind. “I’m picking up the signal piggybacked on the telemetry.”
“Is this what we look like to them?”
“Aye,” replied the sensor officer. “I think it’s what we look like to anyone watching.”
“Show me the Ch’Tauk ships, please,” Lee ordered. “I need to know…”
The view on the screen changed as the exterior sensors from Resolute showed the nearest Ch’Tauk vessel. At this distance, Lee had to resist the impulse to order weapons fire. He had viewed these ships as enemies for so long it was a conscious struggle to resist. The banded armor of the alien vessel appeared to glide through the haze of particulates without disturbing it. The only sign of a disturbance was near the small red projections along the underside, where the wake seemed to be minimized.
“Shut down the shields,” Lee ordered. “We’re setting off radiation like a flare. Na’Tora, what are those little projections on the escorts?”
“They are projectors for void entry,” the alien replied. “They are kept on stand-by while the ships are at rest.”
“Relay a message to our escorts, Kama. Tell them to shut down the M-space engines completely.”
“Lo’Pearce,” Na’Tora asked, sliding from the sensor station down to the command well with barely a sound. “Would you not assume Captain Dalton would have known of the effect before sending us here?”
“Yeah, I bet he did,” Lee replied with a grimace.
“He omitted valuable information from the exercise,” replied the Ch’Tauk with a clacking of his jaws. “It is not honorable action. He is representative of your species and its tendency toward deception.”
“I’ll try not to take that personally, Commander,” Lee replied. “Josh, once we’re shut down and running silent, we need to get out of here fast. Choose a direction and move the strike team as quickly as you can without throwing up too much interference— not so far though that we can’t keep an eye out for company. I think we’re about to get a visit.”
A chorus of assent from his crew confirmed their actions. There were a few tense moments as the ship moved slowly out of position and away from the waves of interference which had formed as they sat still. Lee kept a holo-image trained on the telemetry from the Ch’Tauk to see if they were still creating ripples in the debris. So far they had only disrupted a small portion of the Enxy, but he didn’t want there to be any more disturbances.
“That’s about as far as I can go and still maintain resolution, sir,” Goldstein announced. “The field is too strong here.”
“My people can drop a relay probe to extend our range, but you will need to interface directly with our computers,” Na’Tora offered. “It will allow us to stay further afield and avoid capture.”
“We’ve got our own, Commander,
thank you,” Lee replied. “Kama, send the telemetry to the escorts as the probe comes on-line.”
“Lo’Pearce, I do not wish to—”
“Then don’t, Commander. I want to be able to rely on the data and not worry about the translation matrix failing when I need it most,” replied Lee, waving off the Ch’Tauk officer. “Take us to the furthest range and hold, Goldstein.”
Na’Tora stepped back, chastened but respectful of his place. Lee leaned forward, staring hard at the gray screen and the shadowy images he could just make out of the Ch’Tauk escort frigates. The Alliance had formed so quickly they had not had time to give names to the analogs of Ch’Tauk ships. The closest they had come is class types. The escort frigates surrounding Resolute were less than half her size but still carried the lethal firepower of every Ch’Tauk ship. Lee felt a shiver as he saw the insect-like ship maneuvering in the cloud and his own ship without shields.
“Range?” Lee called out.
“We’re at two kilometers from the buoy, sir. I think we can get a few more before—”
“Contact, sir!” Fowler called from behind. “I’m reading sensor contact below us and three thousand meters to port. Closing slowly on a lateral vector.”
“Calm sown, Fowler, you’ll pop something,” Lee called back. “Slow us down and give me a reading. What is it creeping up our side door?”
“Whoever it is, she’s too small to register on sensors. I get only a scatter reading on the debris and some EM reflections,” Fowler explained. “It can’t be anything bigger than we are, and I would say it’s smaller than our escorts—wait, I have two readings. They’re fighters, sir.”
“All stop,” Lee called. “Let’s not give them anything to look at. Kama, get the Demons ready for launch.”
“Demon One reports Three and Four are ready. Demon Two has not reported for flight.”
“What?” Lee said, turning in his chair to face his communications officer. “Where’s Alice?”
Resolute Strike (The War for Terra Book 7) Page 5