by Dietmar Wehr
“Coral Sea, this is Vixen, Brad Crusero commanding. I’m in formation with Europa. Valley Forge would have carried word about our planned deployment, but she was already on her interception mission when we arrived, and clearly there was no way for you to know that upgraded cruisers were coming as well. Fleet Commander Drake sends his regards and wants you to know that you’re still the Field Commander. Over to you, Commander Molitor.”
So the two ships were former SSU cruisers that had been upgraded with the detection and ECM system plus new energy weapons at the expense of losing their armor. They had detected Coral Sea the same way she had detected them. Molitor had her reply ready by the time the Communications Station had a comlaser warmed up and pointed at both Vixen and Europa.
“Nice to hear from you, Brad. Your two cruisers are a pleasant surprise. When Coral Sea left Excalibur, the decision on whether to finish upgrading any cruisers hadn’t been made yet. Obviously you know about the ad hoc deployment of the carriers to intercept freighters carrying infected cargo. We successfully prevented our target from reaching the Dresden colony.” She paused, wondering whether to go into the gruesome details, and decided not to. “What’s the situation on Earth now? Over to you.” With the distance between them, it would take 16 seconds for her message to reach Vixen and another 16 seconds before she’d hear his reply.
“We’ve been monitoring all com frequencies over the last two weeks. We’ve detected less than 20 radio transmissions from survivors who have low power equipment. That’s why we’re this deep into the zone. Those signals aren’t powerful enough to be picked up where you are. We’ve tried calling back, but as soon as they hear us, they shut down their transmitters. I guess they’re afraid we’re the same people who dropped the bio-weapon to begin with, even though we’ve declared our identity and affiliation. I’m sure there are a lot more small groups of survivors who don’t have transmitting equipment or aren’t willing to use it, but it’s impossible to estimate what the population of the planet is now. All I can say for certain is that the cities are completely deserted. We’ve been watching from orbit for any signs of movement in cities and towns and haven’t seen anything moving. In fact, we haven’t seen any movement at all anywhere. There are no survivors on any of the space-based infrastructure. Either they succumbed to the plague or they were evacuated. Over to you.”
Molitor noticed how quiet the Bridge had become during Crusero’s second transmission. She knew exactly how they felt. Billions had died on Earth, and while her ship had successfully stopped the same thing from happening to the Dresden colonists, that was a small victory by comparison to this monumental defeat.
“Understood,” she said solemnly. “I want Vixen and Europa to rendezvous with Coral Sea up here outside the zone just in case the Empire sends some ships back to check on Earth’s status. When we’re in close formation, you and Europa’s C.O. are invited aboard Coral Sea. My X.O. will finalize the details. Molitor out.”
The meeting with the two C.O.s went well. Molitor learned about her cruisers’ capabilities. Both cruisers had the same weaponry as her carrier, two x-ray laser turrets and two superluminals. The difference between their two ships and hers was that theirs were designed as warships from the ground up. Even without their armor, their hull had thicker steel. It was not enough to protect the ship from one of the Empire’s nuclear-tipped missiles, but maybe enough to prevent the ship from being crippled by a near miss. They also had more powerful maneuvering engines with a top acceleration rate that was almost 50% higher than Coral Sea’s. The final difference was the fact that their cruisers had multiple backups for critical systems. All of the converted freighter/carriers had minimal backups. The bottom line was that those cruisers could take more damage and keep on fighting than her carriers could. She had a feeling that she was going to regret having to make that trade-off.
By the end of the meeting, the three of them had achieved a consensus on what they should do next. Trying to guess which planets were being targeted for bio-weapon attacks was a complete waste of time considering they didn’t know how many ships Majestic had now or what the machine calculated would be the optimal sequence of planets to be bombarded. It seemed logical to assume that the source of the bio-weapon was either on Hadley or on Makassar. Destroying that source was the best way to stop further attacks. Given that the Empire now had the Ether detection system too, it seemed prudent to attack Hadley first, and with all seven ships in order to overwhelm any defenses. That meant waiting until the other four carriers returned. Molitor desperately wished there was some way of getting word back to Excalibur other than sending a ship back, but there wasn’t. The exodus to Excalibur hadn’t included any courier ships, and building new ones had to take second priority over upgrading the ships they already had. She thought they were doing the prudent thing, but it would have been nice to get a second opinion from Drake. At least they would have the element of surprise.
Or so she thought. When she mentioned it to both C.O.s, they told her about the unexpected appearance of a ship five days before Coral Sea arrived. The mystery ship only stayed a few minutes before jumping away again. Identification was impossible due to the distance involved. Crusero told her that at first he thought it was Coral Sea in spite of the fact that there hadn’t been enough time for it to go to Dresden and back so quickly. He now believed that it was an Empire ship sent to recon the Solar system. Molitor had her Astrogator do a quick calculation. Without knowing for certain when the fifth carrier, Valley Forge, had arrived at Earth and then left for her interception, there was no way to determine precisely if all five carriers would be back in time to beat the Empire ship to Hadley.
She briefly toyed with the idea of not waiting for Valley Forge and taking a six ship fleet to Hadley in order to ensure surprise, but Crusero talked her out of it. With no way for them to leave a message behind, Valley Forge would return with its crew expecting to find the other four carriers waiting for her. Instead they’d find nothing and have no idea what to do next. There was also the thorny issue of supplies. All the ships had left Excalibur with as much food and other consumables as they could carry, but eventually they would run out and have to replenish their ships somewhere. Earth was no longer an option. Hadley had a large enough population base that it could spare the necessary quantities, assuming that her fleet won the battle, and if they were forced to retreat from that battle, they had enough supplies left to make it to the colony nearest Hadley. If Valley Forge were left behind, she would have to forage for supplies on her own, and they might never find her again.
She reluctantly agreed that they would wait beyond Earth’s hyper-zone until all five carriers were back and only then head for Hadley. As it turned out, Valley Forge arrived three days too late for them to retain the element of surprise. Majestic would learn about two mystery ships in orbit around Earth, and since its forces controlled every colony that was capable of building ships, it would know that the mystery ships belonged to the Resistance. An attack on Hadley would be the obvious next step, and defensive preparations would be made. Molitor cursed the fact that even with the faster FTL technology on the Resistance side, Majestic had still managed to gain the upper hand via sheer luck. She decided not to waste any more time. Twelve hours after Valley Forge’s arrival, the fleet lined up for a jump to the Franklin Tri-system. If she couldn’t surprise Majestic, she’d try to outfox it.
The plan was that after regrouping at the outer edge of the Franklin star system, their next destination would not be Hadley, but instead would be 30 light seconds from Makassar. The planet’s defenses were bound to have Ether detection systems and would pick up her fleet instantly. The orbiting network of laser satellites could try to fire at them, but at that distance, the chances of being hit by even one beam of fusion-powered x-rays was small. She knew from her time as part of the Empire’s fleet that a small jump-capable ship always remained in orbit around Makassar and that it could jump to Hadley within seconds of getting the order. That’s what s
he wanted the enemy to do. The sentinel ship would warn Majestic that a fleet of seven ships had arrived near Makassar but too far to attack with lasersats. Majestic would order whatever ships it had in orbit to jump to Makassar. While that was happening, Molitor’s fleet would micro-jump to Hadley. Eventually Majestic’s ships would jump back, but by then her fleet would have spotted and destroyed most, maybe all, of whatever lasersats Hadley had in orbit and would be ready for the returning ships. It looked good on paper, and if a human was in charge of the other side, she was sure it would work, but Majestic was far more intelligent than any human and might be able to figure out an effective counter-measure.
Day 175/2556
Makassar
Sanders breathed a sigh of relief as the new ship, unofficially christened Leviathan by the shipyard workers, lifted off and headed into space. The damn thing was finished and somehow they had done it on time. Even adding the millions of cubic meters of computer components at the same time as the hull was being finished had been accomplished. Why Majestic would want another computer of comparable size and capability to itself built inside a ship was beyond him. With that project finished now, it appeared as though his people could take a well-earned rest since no orders had been received to start work on anything else. As he stepped away from the window overlooking the now empty construction bay, his personal communication device signaled an incoming call.
“Sanders here.”
“Director, this is Defense Ops. Something strange is happening. All our orbiting lasersats are shifting from standby to active mode and are re-orienting their projectors towards our ground installations. My God! They’re going to—“ Both Sanders and the Defense Ops officer died instantly as stiletto-thin but highly concentrated beams of coherent x-rays from hundreds of satellites slashed through every industrial installation on Makassar and turned them all into piles of partially melted metal.
Hadley
Trojan knew something unusual was happening when Majestic would not respond to his queries regarding the sightings of a very large ship dropping down to the Majestic Complex. The damn thing was big enough that he could see it with his own eyes from his balcony even though it was kilometers away. He quickly called for his personal, high performance air vehicle to be made ready. The little one-man craft was not made for comfort, but it was FAST! In less than a minute, he was breaking the sound barrier on his way towards the Complex. The craft’s optics let him zoom in. The size of that ship was mind-boggling. It was hovering over the ground near the pyramid-shaped armor that protected Majestic’s Phase II expansion. Some kind of energy beam was connecting the bottom of the ship with the Complex. It had to be a data transfer, but a beam that big was only necessary if millions of terrabytes of data were being transferred either to or from the ship.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Verbalizing the question wasn’t necessary, because his implant could read his thoughts, but shouting it made him feel better. The reply was almost instantaneous, and Trojan knew within seconds what Majestic was up to. When the transmission ended, he also knew that it was the last message he would ever get from the demon machine. He felt his implant shut down even as he brought his hands to his face and began to sob uncontrollably. Just when he thought the situation couldn’t get any worse, it had gotten worse, a LOT worse.
Day 185/2556
Coral Sea
Quarter light year outside of Franklin Tri-system
Molitor paced back and forth in front of the main display as she waited for the other six ships to get back into formation with the flagship. No matter how carefully a long jump was calculated for a multi-ship jump, infinitesimal differences in equipment calibration always resulted in ships emerging from hyper-space tens of thousands and sometimes hundreds of thousands of kilometers apart. At least the Ether detection system made the reformation process a bit easier. She knew where the other six ships were and could contact them fairly quickly. It was the time it took to physically move closer that made her impatient. This preliminary jump destination was far enough away from both Hadley and Makassar to prevent her ships from being detected by Majestic. When the fleet was back in formation, they would micro-jump the relatively short distance to the edge of Makassar’s hyper-zone. Then the real fun would begin.
It took almost 20 minutes for the last of the six ships to slip into her assigned formation slot. Molitor was now looking at images of the six other C.O.s on the main display.
“My A.O. has calculated our jump target co-ordinates. Have your ships’ helm controls tied in with the flagship’s so that we all do the same thing at the same time. We’re also going to charge all of our energy turrets before we jump to Makassar. I want us to be able to fire at enemy ships immediately if the opportunity presents itself, but wait for my order. If there are multiple targets within range, my W.O. will allocate targets to each ship. You’re also going to get jump co-ordinates for a rally point in case we find ourselves overmatched and have to retreat. Don't jump to the rally point unless you hear specific orders to do so. If I’m unable to maintain control of the battle for whatever reason, then Commander Crusero will assume command of the fleet, and if he’s unable to do so, then Commander Yeager is next in the chain of command. If all three of us are unable to fulfil fleet command responsibilities, then you’re free to head for the rally point at your discretion and from there head back to Excalibur. Does anyone have any questions?” There were none. “Okay. Let’s get the fleet lined up for the jump. We’ll keep this com channel open at all times. Good luck to us all and good hunting.”
The jump to Makassar took less than ten minutes. The first thing Molitor checked upon emergence back into normal space was the presence of enemy ships. The tactical display was immediately updated with data from the Ether detection system. She was relieved to see that there was only one other ship within detection range. That was the sentinel ship. A quick check showed that a timer was keeping track of the time since the fleet emerged from hyper-space. Makassar didn’t have a Majestic-type computer in command, so any response would be delayed a bit due to normal human reaction times.
Molitor watched the timer carefully. That sentinel ship should be jumping for Hadley just about…now! The tactical displayed pinged to announce a status change. The sentinel ship had just jumped away. Okay, the jump itself will take about twenty-one seconds. Say another twenty seconds for the warning message to reach Hadley and another twenty seconds for Majestic’s response to reach whatever ships are in high orbit. Let’s assume fifteen seconds for the ships to line up with Makassar. In seventy-six seconds, those ships should be in jump transit here. If we micro-jump to Hadley at T plus seventy seconds, we should get there after they’ve left.
“Helm, we’ll initiate the jump to Hadley at T plus seventy seconds,” announced Molitor. The H.O. acknowledged her order with a wave of his hand. She was just confirming what they had discussed before arriving at the rally point.
“Commander, our infrared scanners are picking up some unusual readings from Makassar,” announced the Detection Technician. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say all the installations on Makassar have been turned into pools of molten slag.”
With the timer rapidly approaching the T+70 second mark, Molitor was reluctant to devote any of her focus to the bizarre scan report. The destruction of all industrial and mining installations on Makassar made no sense. Why would Majestic destroy its only source of shipbuilding capacity, and if it wasn’t Majestic that ordered the destruction, who else could possibly have done it?
“No time to look at the data now. I’ll review the recordings later, Lieutenant,” said Molitor quickly. Just as she finished speaking, the timer hit 70 seconds.
“We’re jumping!” announced the Helm Officer. The 21 seconds passed so quickly that Molitor wondered if her sense of timing was being affected by an adrenaline rush.
“Coming up on Hadley in…three…two…one…mark!” The H.O.’s shout was almost drowned out by the warning sound made by the tactical display. The
re were five ships in orbit around Hadley. All five were outside of Hadley’s hyper-zone. Four of them were in a loose cluster, while the fifth one was off by itself. Molitor had just enough to time to realize that the lone ship was almost certainly the sentinel ship. There was no time to try to figure out why the other four were still here. She had to decide how to fight these ships fast!
“Guns, allocate fleet fire among two hostiles! When we’ve crippled them, we’ll take on the other two and worry about the singleton later!”
“Gotcha, Commander! Stand by!”
Molitor could tell from her Command Station screens that Coral Sea’s two superluminal turrets, S1 and S2, were taking aim at one of the orbiting ships. She checked the range. Eight point nine light seconds. With triangulated data from seven Ether detection systems, the hit probability at that range was pretty good.
“Fire when ready, Guns!”
The Weapons Officer nodded. “Firing now…Bogey One’s venting atmosphere! Vixen reports Bogey Two’s venting as well! All ships are recharging!”
Those damaged ships might jump away before we can fire again. Maybe we should switch fire to the other two now! Before she could formulate another thought, Coral Sea lurched so violently that she heard someone on the Bridge scream in pain. The lights failed for a full second. When power came back on, her Command Station lit up with an alarming number of yellow and red status lights indicating major damage to a whole range of ship’s systems.