A Galaxy Unknown

by Thomas DePrima

  "As to the matter of your separation from service, I'm sure a copy of your broadcast message will reach Higgins. They are the proper authority in this deca-sector.

  "Robert Aubrey, Captain, Space Command destroyer Brasilia, message complete."

  "He thinks that we chose to stop?" Gloria said, her eyes as large as saucers. "He believes that we had some kind of choice in the matter?"

  "Apparently," Jenetta said, not wishing to verbalize the negative opinion that she was feeling towards a myopic officer and senior captain whom she had never met or even heard of before. "In any event, we're clearly on our own out here."

  Their sensors hadn't detected the presence of any other vessels since the attack, so Jenetta and Gloria felt comfortable walking to the officer's mess to have lunch. It seemed to be the only meal where most of the officers were present in the wardroom at the same time. Both the Doctor and Charley had just arrived.

  "How are the injured men doing, Doctor?" Jenetta asked as they took their seats.

  "Quite well, Captain. Injuries were mostly limited to superficial cuts and bruises, but one crewman has a broken finger, and another has a slight concussion. The crewman with the broken finger has already returned to duty, and the other man should be okay in a couple of days."

  "Excellent. Charley, how's everything in engineering?"

  "Returning to normal," Charley said, then scowled as he added, "except Rondell's recruited six of my best men to function as gunners."

  Jenetta smiled. "Do your best to get by without them while they train. We need them more as gunners right now."

  "Aye, Captain."

  "Is it possible to set up additional gunnery stations? We'll have eight gunners soon and only two stations on the bridge."

  "Sure. Each of the four laser arrays on the main ship has its own console in the turret. When unmanned, control automatically passes to the console covering the adjacent space, or to the bridge fire control stations. The only icons that show up on each operator's console are for the targets that fall within the area covered by that operator's guns."

  "That'll give us six stations. Could we do the same with the two stations in the laser array section immediately behind the main ship?"

  "Yes. The consoles are almost identical to the others."

  "Okay, you have your project for this afternoon, Charley. Divide the eight gunnery stations into Larboard and Starboard functions and then further sub-divide them into four groups. Gunny Rondell can assign his new gunners where he sees fit."

  "Aye, Captain."

  After lunch, Jenetta told Gloria to go get some sleep. She'd been up for more than twenty hours, much of it during an extremely stressful time. Jenetta, having had four hours sleep before the Raiders hit, returned to the bridge. Gloria would relieve her at 2000 hours.

  * * *

  Gunny Rondell got his hoped for twelve hours. After that, each gunner was assigned a weapons station. If a new gunner is injured or away from his station during an attack, control passes to the first manned console in a prioritized list.

  The Vordoth's crew spent the next day waiting for an attack that never came, but Gunny Rondell didn't waste the time. Throughout the morning and afternoon, he had the new gunners practice with the sim systems for a half-hour, take a half-hour break, and then practice for another half-hour, during their entire watch. At the end of the day, he declared them to be as good as any newly trained gunnery squad in the Space Marines, and cancelled further mandatory training exercises, but he authorized them to practice on their own if they wished, and all took advantage of the opportunity to better their new skills. They were well motivated to be prepared for the next attack, if it should come.

  Settled comfortably onto a course parallel to their original track, but offset by five-hundred-billion kilometers, it was impossible for the ship to be picked up on the sensors of any Raider ship lying in wait for them along their previous route. Jenetta managed to get eight hours sleep when Gloria relieved her, and she re-entered the bridge refreshed and alert after a simple breakfast the following morning. Each shoulder now sported the four wide gold bars that visually proclaimed her to be the ship's captain. Most likely Gloria, or at least someone operating on Gloria's instructions, had taken all four of Jenetta's new uniforms while she slept, and changed the rank insignia. As Jenetta settled into the command chair to enjoy the fresh cup of coffee that she had carried from the officer's mess, Gloria left to have breakfast.

  Rested, and with the ship repaired and out of immediate danger, Jenetta reviewed the facts of the Raider attack in her mind. Six fighters had assaulted the ship, but fighters were short-range ships and she wasn't aware of any habitable planets nearby. The attackers had to have come either from a base or a ship since it was impossible for them to have been that deep in space on their own.

  Upon assuming command, Jenetta had discovered quickly that there was an untapped wealth of skills aboard the ship. Gunny Rondell had been just one of many. If Captain Lentz had read through the personnel files, as Jenetta had done within hours of her ascendancy, Rondell would already have been assigned to the fire control battery. Jenetta had also found four cargo handlers who'd had bridge experience. She immediately reassigned them to duties on the bridge.

  Approaching the now constantly manned astrogation console, Jenetta said, "Show me the chart for this area, everything within say— five-trillion kilometers from the point where we were attacked.

  "Aye, Captain," the crewman conscripted to function as an astrogator said as he keyed in the parameters to meet the request. "Here it is, ma'am."

  "There's nothing here," Jenetta muttered as she examined the chart displayed on the viewscreen. "Where's the nearest planet or moon that could properly support a base? A breathable atmosphere isn't necessary."

  The crewman punched in the parameters and the image of an off-white planet popped up on the screen. Informational text filled the foreground of the image. "Regoserth-Five, Captain," the crewman said, interpreting the compendious data. "It's at the extreme edge of a system that doesn't have a decent planet in the lot. Its star is about one and a half light-years from where we were attacked; roughly fourteen-trillion kilometers."

  "Thank you."

  "Aye, Captain."

  Moving to the security station console, where a crewmember was busy scanning space for any sign of other ships, she asked, "Are you picking up any sign of activity?"

  "No contact, Captain."

  Looking over the crewman's shoulder, she asked, "How come your stern DeTect screen looks so clear? How far out are you scanning?"

  "Since there's no danger of colliding with something in our wake, Captain Lentz had us scan only to a billion kilometers. The next setting is full scan and the screen becomes cluttered with noise from DeTect signal dropouts, making it much more difficult to spot the movement of someone overtaking us. At the present setting, any movement jumps out at you."

  "Change to full scan, please. It's a little harder on the eyes, but you get used to it after a while, and the computer will help alert you to movement when you use the higher setting."

  "Aye, Captain," the crewman said as he adjusted the viewing controls. His screen lit up with white dots that continuously appeared and disappeared. Some were quite large, but most were miniscule.

  Standing behind the crewman, Jenetta watched the screens for several minutes. She had spent many hours staring at such displays while aboard the Hokyuu. Pointing to a steady dot in the dead center of the stern image monitor, she asked, "Does it seem strange to you that there should be a steady image on the course that we've just followed? We would have had to fly right through it, whatever it is. What do you think?"

  "I don't know, Captain. Let me see what the computer thinks of it." The crewman touched the dot with a stylus, and then tapped a few keys. After a few seconds, the computer responded. "According to the computer, our distance from the contact isn't increasing, so it's either a sensor ghost, or a ship that's matching our course within 1 degree. That'
s the best we can get at this distance."

  "What's the calculated distance to the contact?"

  "The computer says one-billion-ten-million kilometers."

  "Just outside the range that we'd normally be scanning. And since the distance is so great, and the course nonreciprocal, the DeTect system wouldn't warn of a possible danger from collision. Hmmm, have the computer keep an eye on it and plot its course."

  "Aye, Captain."

  Jenetta turned and walked into her briefing room as disquieting thoughts about the dot of light on the screen tugged at her mind. After pacing around the room for the better part of ten minutes, she called the officer's mess. Anthony's image appeared on her screen.

  "How may I help you, Captain?"

  "Are any officers there?"

  "Yes, Captain. Lieutenant Sabella, Charley, and the Doctor are all here."

  "Please convey to Lieutenant Sabella and Charley that I'd like them to come to my briefing room as soon as they finish breakfast. And please bring a thermal carafe of coffee when you have a chance."

  "Aye, Captain."

  * * *

  Jenetta was studying an overview of the ship on the large wall monitor when Gloria and Charley arrived at the briefing room. Charley was carrying the insulated decanter of fresh coffee that she'd requested of Anthony.

  "You sent for us, Captain?" Gloria asked.

  "Yes, I believe we're being followed. We've spotted what appears to be a ship matching our speed and course. It's one-billion ten-million kilometers behind us, which happens to be just ten-million km beyond the scan range that Captain Lentz had ordered. If someone knew of his appointment as Captain aboard this ship, and was familiar with his habits, it makes sense that they would pick that distance to tail us. Of course, it could be a sensor ghost reflection, but I doubt it. I suspect it might be the ship that launched the fighters. They were too far out to have been there on their own."

  "Do you think they intend to attack us?" Gloria asked, apprehension creeping into her voice. Her face paled appreciably as she spoke.

  "No, they've had plenty of opportunity if that was their intention," Jenetta said calmly, aware of the effect her words would have on Gloria. "I think they're either waiting for reinforcements, or more likely just reporting our position so a trap can be set up ahead of us. It's even possible that they've been following you since you left Kesserith. It's probably the only way they could have known precisely what your course would be and been able to spring a trap that would shut down your Light Speed drive. Since they can't attack while we're traveling faster than light, they'll most likely try to fool our ACS into shutting down our Light Speed Drive again."

  "Then we should change course, Captain," Charley said.

  "They'd only move the trap. No, we have to find a way to get them permanently off our six before we set a new course."

  "Our six, ma'am?" Gloria said.

  "Sorry, it's an old military term, dating back to when chronographs had hands to indicate the time instead of digital readouts. It means our six o'clock position, or more simply, ‘our tail.' I'm sure that we won't be able to outrun them, so we have to incapacitate them— or— destroy them."

  "Incapacitate them?!" Gloria exclaimed incredulously. "Destroy them?!" Taking a deep breath and calming her voice a little, she continued with, "How can we possibly do that? This isn't a warship. We don't have any fighters aboard, and our weapons are strictly defensive. If the Raiders don't move in, we can't even fire on them."

  "There are two possibilities that I can think of," Jenetta said tranquilly, apparently unperturbed by Gloria's emotional outburst. "We could rig a space mine that would detonate with a proximity trigger, or we can attack them directly with the ship. Charley, do we have the components needed to put together some space mines?"

  "Not really. We might be able to rig something with a couple of torpedoes, but it'd be tricky, and we might blow ourselves up just trying to prepare it. We lost our best chance for building such a bomb when the Raiders first attacked us and the last two link-sections broke away."

  "What do you mean?"

  "The stern most link-section, the one right next to the gun section, was loaded with Dithulene-35. It's the catalyst for Corplastizine, the plasticized explosive used by miners. We had enough of the two compounds to destroy a small moon. A minute explosive charge, mounted on a vial of Dithulene-35 and then strapped to a brick of Corplastizine, is all you need to make a serious bomb."

  "Too bad we don't have any Corplastizine now. We could use it."

  "But we do. We have about eight-hundred metric tons in the link-section nearest the main ship."

  "You mean," Jenetta said, shocked by what she had just learned, "that we were sitting on an eight-hundred metric ton bomb when the Raiders attacked?"

  "Not at all, Captain," Charley said evenly. "The Corplastizine was sited in the front cargo link-section, while the catalyst was intentionally located in the very last. Being separated by more than six kilometers of other cargo made it all but impossible for them to come into contact with each other. And if we did experience a problem, we could just jettison the link containing the catalyst."

  "That would be perfect then. What else can we use to detonate it?"

  "Not much; that's what makes Corplastizine so safe to transport, store, handle, and use. Its stability has been embraced by most mining operations, so it's come into wide spread use during the past decade. Unlike other forms of plastic bonded explosives such as C-4 and Semtex developed back in the twentieth century, it doesn't require a blasting cap to initiate detonation, nor can fire or explosion detonate it. Only by vaporizing the proper catalyst against the Corplastizine can a cascading detonation effect be produced. If we had the Dithulene-35, we'd have instant destruction on a scale that you have to see to believe. One kilo of Corplastizine can produce the equivalent explosive effect of a kiloton of TNT."

  "That means that we have the equivalent of an eight-hundred-megaton bomb aboard. That's certainly enough to do the job. Can you reproduce some Dithulene-35?"

  "No, it's an extremely complex compound, and can only be fabricated in a proper lab. I can synthesize a substitute catalyst, but it won't initiate the cascading effect. It will only ignite the surface material. Unless the Raider ship happens to come into direct contact with it just as it explodes, it won't do anything more than get their attention for a few seconds. In fact, in the vacuum of space, any high-explosive yield will only give you a bright flash unless you can get the explosion to occur while the bomb is in almost direct contact with their hull."

  "Yes, and that's unlikely to occur without either a proximity trigger or contact trigger. I guess the only option is to attack them with the ship and use our torpedoes."

  "Captain," Gloria said, "the Vordoth can't possibly maneuver well enough to attack another ship effectively; and besides, they'd see us coming and avoid us. If they are, in fact, a Raider warship, their acceleration and speed has to be substantially greater than ours, and they can easily remain out of range."

  "Maybe— and then again— maybe not. Charley, have you prepared the three sections as we discussed? I'd like to drop one off and see how the Raiders react."

  "They're ready whenever you are, Captain."

  "Okay," Jenetta said thoughtfully. "We'll detach the rearmost section first, then release two more, one at a time on my command. Also, ready the foremost connection so that we can detach the entire cargo section as one unit. I want three tugs standing by, ready to launch as soon as we drop our envelope. They're to lock onto the main cargo section and engage their engines to full power, maximum speed Sub-Light-50, following the ship's original course. Are the four torpedo tubes loaded, Gloria?"

  "Loaded and ready to fire, Captain," Gloria said. "We just have to disengage the safeties."

  "Okay," Jenetta said, clapping her hands once, "let's get rigged for action. Clear the cargo section of all non-essential personnel and seal the ship."

  * * *

  Chapter Ten
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br />   ~ July 13th, 2267 ~

  While Gloria and Charley hurried out to perform their assigned tasks, Jenetta climbed into the command chair on the bridge to contemplate the upcoming action. Gloria rejoined her after unlocking the torpedo auto-load system, removing the trigger safeties, and visually checking their state of readiness. Almost another twenty minutes elapsed before Charley returned to the bridge. He announced that the tugs were manned and ready to launch, the cargo section was clear of all other personnel, and that all airtight doors had been closed.

  "I have an announcement for the crew," Jenetta said, and accepted the small wireless mike that Charley passed to her from the com operator.

  "You're on, Captain," the com operator said.

  Jenetta took a deep breath and released it slowly before saying, "Attention crew of the Vordoth. This is the captain. By now most of you know that something is up. It is my belief that we're being followed by a Raider warship. I suspect that it was the source of the fighters that attacked us, and is currently relaying our position and course so their forces ahead of us can prepare another trap. We cannot elude the ship behind us, so we must disable it. We've cleared the cargo section and closed all airtight doors. I intend to separate from our cargo and use the main ship to engage the Raiders while several tugs continue on with our freight. Gunners should be at their posts. All others should find a secure location, settle in, and hang on. Captain out."

  From his post at the security station Gunny Rondell watched Jenetta solemnly. She had given him his instructions for the attack while they were waiting for Charley to clear the cargo section. Her proposed maneuver had to be the most audacious battle tactic he'd ever heard. Old freighters have no business attacking modern warships. But— it might not be too late to stop it. He could refuse to comply and then attempt to take command of the ship. If they abandoned the cargo, perhaps the Raiders would let them escape. He glanced around the bridge trying to decide how many, and which, crewmen would side with him in a mutiny. The First Officer and the Chief Engineer seemed committed, or at least resigned, to the plan. That made a successful takeover more doubtful. If one of them showed the slightest lack of support for Carver, he might pull it off. Damn, there wasn't enough time to speak to the other bridge personnel surreptitiously and determine whose support he could count on. If he'd thought that she'd pull anything as crazy as this, he would have begun plotting a takeover the first day. Should he risk it anyway? The merchant services didn't impose the death penalty for mutiny, but unless the action could be defended and adjudged appropriate, incarceration was sure. He decided to play along for now, but would be ready if an opportunity presented itself.