by Dietmar Wehr
“I have launch clearance, Valkyrie. I’ll dock with you in seven minutes, more or less.”
“Glad to hear it, Troy. I confess that I’m feeling better about this mission with you along.”
Chapter Nineteen:
“Are you sure we’re not too far away?” asked Ronson.
“Yes, Troy, I’m sure. We need to be 100,000 kilometers away from the estimated path of the mothership because it IS only an estimate and their trajectory could be off by many thousands of kilometers. I’m assuming that you don’t want to run the risk of them colliding with us while travelling at over 98% of light speed. Am I right, Troy?”
Ronson chuckled. “Very funny. Of course not. It’s just that I’m concerned we won’t be able to see them from this range.”
“If the invasion ten millennia ago is any example, that mothership has to be quite large in order to carry multiple warships that are probably as large as I am, and it’s moving very fast. I need this range in order to get a wide angle view of the mothership passing in front of hundreds of background stars in the two seconds that it will take for it to pass by. The three sentry ships will also be doing the same thing from different angles. By combining the optical data, it should be possible to pinpoint the mothership’s exact trajectory, velocity and rate of deceleration. We may have to do this more than once before we can nail down the data precisely enough to act on it.”
“And you’re sure they won’t detect us?”
“I am for several reasons. First, the profiles of my ships as seen from the front is very flat and at this range very difficult to detect visually. Second, the mothership is not sending out radar waves. That would be pointless since their ship would be travelling almost as fast as the radar waves themselves. Third, their main concern is what’s ahead of them. Avoiding collision with planets and planetoids will be their primary concern until they slow down a lot more. Finally, even if they did somehow detect us, time is passing so slowly for the crew on that ship that by the time they’re aware of us and decide to act on the information, we’ll be gone. At this velocity, one second aboard that mothership will equate to over thirty seconds for us. That time dilation is their weakness. That’s why we have to act now before they slow down enough to get back in sync with our time flow.”
“Yes, now I understand. How difficult will it be to line your ships up so that you can fire at that ship?”
“I don’t have a good enough understanding of the parameters involved to be able to estimate the level of difficulty, but I expect that it won’t be easy. I doubt if that mothership will have its running lights on. It will likely be a very large, dark mass that’s still in inter-galactic space with relatively little starlight hitting it from behind. I’m extremely reluctant to use radar or range-finding lasers due to the risk of detection. My Aesirian detection system is not showing anything, which tells me that these invaders have the technology to hide from it. Given that, we’ll have to get close enough to track it visually.”
“How long before they pass by?”
“That too is an estimate. The triangulation from the two arrays can give me an approximate position and velocity, but the actual passing could happen anytime between 55 and 233 seconds from…now.”
Ronson waited and kept his eyes glued to the large wall-mounted display. Her ship’s opticals were generating far too much data to be displayed in a holographic image. As he watched, the image blurred for a second or so.
“They’re past now, Troy. I’m waiting to receive data from the sentry ships. Stand by.”
“What? That was it? All I saw was a blur!”
“Yes, your biological eyes can’t process images fast enough to see the mothership. I’ll replay the recorded data at a much slower speed. Watch.”
Ronson gasped when he saw a small, dark cigar-shaped object move rapidly from right to left. From the sudden movement of the background stars, it was obvious that the optical equipment was panning in the same direction to catch as much of the passing as possible.
“Can you tell how big that ship is yet?”
“Yes, Troy. Preliminary analysis puts the length of the mothership at somewhere between one hundred eleven and one hundred forty-four kilometers.”
Ronson felt a shiver of fear go up his spine. “My God! How is that even possible?”
“These invaders are clearly very capable engineers. By way of comparison, the mothership that I and the Aesir fought thousands of years ago, was less than 77 kilometers long. Even the senior Aesir leadership were impressed by that. Since this mothership is at least twice as long with at least four times the internal space available, it now seems that the first incursion was actually a reconnaissance mission. And if that’s the case, then this ship represents the main invasion effort.”
“Hold on a second. They sent a recon ship that arrived almost 10,000 years earlier? Why would they wait so long to follow it up with the big ship?”
“I do not believe that they waited that long to launch the second ship. You have to remember that they’ve travelled over two point six million light years at near light velocities. Even if they launched both ships at the same time, very tiny differences in relative velocities could easily result in that time gap. Given what they were attempting, a ten thousand year gap over millions of years is actually quite impressive. A more reasonable question would be why bother with a recon mission at all, and that is a question I don’t have a good answer for. It may have something to do with the way these invaders think. The first ship could have carried most of their capacity for fighting while the second ship carries most of the colonists. Until that’s confirmed, I think it’s prudent if we assume the worst case scenario in terms of what this second ship is carrying.”
Ronson felt his heart pounding from the adrenaline coursing through his body. There was now only one question that occupied his mind, and after a few seconds, he managed to build up enough courage to ask it. “Now that you know what we’re facing, what do you estimate our chances of winning are?”
When Valkyrie answered, her voice was low and had a resigned tone to it that Ronson had never heard before. “I’m afraid to calculate the odds now, Troy. You can assume that my previous less than 50% figure has gotten significantly worse, but we must try. My internal sensors are showing rapid heart beat and rapid respiration, Troy. I have not seen you react this way before. Do you require medical attention?”
Ronson realized that he was breathing fast and hard and made an effort to slow his breathing down. “No…I’m just scared shitless is all.”
Valkyrie waited a few seconds before responding. “It’s not too late to change your mind, Troy. I can program the auxiliary craft to take you back to Vesta?”
Ronson felt his hands shaking. He had never been so frightened of anything in his life. Even the near-death encounter with the night cat hadn’t affected him this much because then he hadn’t had the time to get this scared. Now he did. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and said in a stressed voice. “I’m staying. We’ll fight this battle together.”
Valkyrie was deeply moved by his commitment. As a trained Warrior, she was honor-bound to try her best to fight off this invasion in order to protect the humans she had assumed responsibility for. But Troy was not a trained Warrior. He had not taken the Warrior Oath, nor did he fully understand the Code that literally gave her no choice in the matter. He did have a choice, and yet he chose to face this impossible mission with her. These humans have the same potential for greatness that my beloved Aesir had. I have to find a way to save them!
“Your support is appreciated more than you know, Troy. I have the data from the other ships now. Please stand by while I do the necessary calculations.”
Ronson was surprised at how long those calculations took. It was several minutes later before Valkyrie broke the silence. “This was more difficult than I estimated, but I have the data I need now. My ships are moving into the mothership’s path, and as soon as we’re directly behind it, I’ll evaluate the p
robability of successfully hitting the target with torsion beams.”
“Why wouldn’t you be able to hit that ship? You were able to destroy Compact ships from long range with the weapons on your smaller ship.”
“Range is not the problem, Troy, accuracy is. The Compact ships weren’t jamming my detection system. I was able to pinpoint their precise location even at considerable distances, but as I’ve already explained, these invaders have the ability to jam that detection system. Aiming my torsion beams visually will be very difficult because that ship is putting another two hundred ninety-five thousand three hundred kilometers between them and us every second.”
Ronson felt a little stupid now that she’d explained the situation. He should have been able to figure that out himself. “So what will you do if you can’t get an accurate visual fix on the target when your ships get behind it?”
“We’ll accelerate to a moderate velocity, then engage in a series of very short hyperspace jumps that will bring the squadron closer to the target. After each micro-jump, I’ll re-evaluate the hit probability of firing at that range. If the probability isn’t acceptable, we’ll jump closer. It will take approximately 137 minutes before we get all four ships directly behind the mothership, Troy. You’ve been awake for almost 20 hours now. There’s enough time to take a nap.”
Ronson’s first impulse was to say no, but the sudden wave of fatigue that washed over him changed his mind. A two hour nap would help a lot. “Okay, I’ll try to do that. Make sure you wake me before something happens.”
“Yes, Troy. Have a good nap.”
Troy was so keyed up that he was still awake 20 minutes later. He was just about to get up when he heard Valkyrie’s voice.
“— up, Troy. Time to wake up.”
Ronson was a little surprised to realize that he had in fact gone to sleep. “I’m awake now. What’s the situation?” he asked as he got up.
“All four ships are now directly behind the mothership as far as I can tell. Our velocity is one percent of light speed, which is enough to adjust our trajectory quickly if we need to. I’ve determined that the range to the target is already too great to rely on visual targeting of weapons. In case you’re wondering, the range is now slightly over 2.63 billion kilometers. Even my Aesirian-engineered opticals can’t zoom in that much. My plan is to cut the range by a factor of 100 each time we micro-jump. The sentry ships have been programmed for the first jump, and I can initiate it as soon as you’re back on the Bridge, Troy.”
“Since I’ll be there in seconds, you may as well jump right now, Valkyrie.”
“Micro-jump is complete. Target evaluation is also complete. Hit probability is still unacceptably low. Preparing for another jump,” Valkyrie’s voice had taken on the monotone pitch that Ronson recognized as indicating that she was focused mainly on her piloting and tactical duties with only minimal attention to communicating with him. By this time he was back on the Bridge and was keenly looking at the tactical display.
“Second jump ready. Jump complete. Range now is just under 236,700 kilometers. Hit probability is improving but is still below 50%. Preparing to jump again. Stand by, Troy. I think this next jump will be enough.”
Ronson felt himself tense up again but at least the last vestiges of sleep were gone.
“Third jump ready. Jump complete. Range is now 2,367 kilometers but opening rapidly. Hit probability at the closest point was 51.6%. My ships have a total of 16 weapon turrets, Troy. That means that in theory, 8 torsion beams should hit the target. Ordinarily that would be enough to cripple any smaller ship, but this target is so large that 8 hits might not be enough to cripple it in the first barrage. My ships will be able to fire again in less than 13 seconds, but unless we micro-jump first, we’ll be firing the second volley from 3.9 million kilometers back. That’s how far that ship can travel in 13 seconds. If they launch warships, they’ll be able to decelerate a lot faster, and they’ll have anti-torsion beam shields. I doubt that we could cripple them faster than they can launch them. If we can’t, then we’d be very quickly overwhelmed and destroyed.”
“Am I correct in thinking that one more micro-jump to within a couple of kilometers will enable you to see the target clearly?”
“That’s correct, but if we get that close, the odds of them detecting us also goes up, Troy.”
“What do you estimate the hit probability will be if we got that close?”
“Theoretically, at a range of two point three kilometers, our hit probability would be 100%, but when the range opens by almost three hundred thousand kilometers every second, the hit probability will plunge rapidly. To get the most benefit from a close firing range, I would have to know what the rear of that ship looks like. Is it composed solely of engine assemblies, or are there other things like weapon turrets for example. If we knew there were rearward facing weapon turrets and knew precisely where they were, I could pre-aim my turrets to fire at them the instant I emerge from hyperspace, and that would then enable us to target their engines on the second volley after another micro-jump. That much damage done that quickly should generate enough confusion among the crew that we’d have time for a third volley and maybe even a fourth before they decide to launch of warships. The key is getting an accurate picture of the target’s stern. One ship jumping close probably would not get visual images with the necessary level of detail. Multiple jumps by one ship or more than one ship jumping at the same time might be able to generate the fine level of detail we’d need by combining multiple images. If we assume that they’re monitoring what’s behind them visually, then a single observation micro-jump by all three sentry ships simultaneously, to be followed up with an attack micro-jump by all four ships as soon as the optical data can be analyzed and targets allocated, just might be able to inflict serious damage before they can react. I see this as our only chance, Troy.”
“I can’t think of a better strategy, so let’s do this.”
“I’m giving the sentry ships the necessary programming now. Be warned that when we execute this strategy, things will happen very fast, and I may not be able to spare the attention for a response if you talk to me.”
“I understand. Just let me know when you’re about to begin.”
“All programming has been downloaded. I’m sending the execute signal in five seconds. No countdown.”
Ronson had just enough time to take a deep breath.
They’ve jumped. We’re jumping to catch up. Targets identified. Attack jump commencing. Multiple hits. Jumping. Firing. More hits. Target has stopped decelerating. Massive venting of atmosphere. My ships are maneuvering off to the side to be able to attack their docked warships. Standby.” The pause lasted about five seconds. “Jumping again in three…two…one…now. Sixteen docked ships hit! Four more to go. Jumping again and firing. Shields! They’re using energy shields now! That last attack was only partially successful, Troy. Torsion beams penetration of energy shields on two targets confirmed, a third penetration possible. I’m moving us over to the opposite side of the mothership’s path. We’ll try another attack. They’re responding now and very fast considering the time dilation effect.”
Ronson realized he had been holding his breath and let it out.
“All four ships lining up for another jump Jumping. Third ship now confirmed as damaged, but last undamaged ship is undocking. We have to kill it before it completely undocks! Standby. Jumping now. No penetration! EM shielding is too strong on this one! Their shields must now be at full power.”
“Do you have a plan B?” asked Ronson.
There was the briefest of pauses before Valkyrie spoke. “Yes, but probability of success is very low. I’m going to order the sentry ships to jump ahead of this alien warship’s estimated path so that a collision will take place. One collision may not be enough. If I have to, I’ll sacrifice all three sentry ships. That, in theory, should damage it enough that I can finish the job. If no collision occurs on the first attempt, we can keep trying, but the more times we
try, the more time the aliens will have to react and take counter-measures. This is going to be difficult for me to manage, Troy. I won’t be able to spare the attention to keep you verbally updated. Watch the tactical display.”
As Ronson watched, the display showed two blue ships, one much larger than the other, with four very small red ships. Ronson knew that the distances weren’t to scale. If Valkyrie had tried to display the actual distances as the alien ships pulled ahead at near light speeds, the two aliens ships, the mothership and the now undocked warship would have shown as one icon, not two. All four red dots suddenly were much closer. Three of them were ahead of the blue ships for a fraction of a second and then behind again. It was obvious that the attempt had failed. He understood the difficulty. While the warship was much larger than the sentry ships, it was moving VERY fast, and calculating a micro-jump of several million kilometers so that the sentry ship would emerge directly in front of the warship was hard to estimate. The fourth red dot, representing Valkyrie’s ship jumped to catch up with the other three. He expected her to order them to jump again on slightly different trajectories. Sure enough, the three red dots jumped again, and it appeared that no collision occurred, but when Valkyrie caught up to them with her own micro-jump, one of the red dots disappeared.