by D. J. Holmes
“Of course!” Emilie said as it became clear to her. “That’s why they look so strange. The ships have the same Karacknid nose design, but everything else has been bulked out. It’s like we’re looking at overweight Karacknids warships. They are a long-range squadron.”
A sudden flurry of alarms cut off whatever anyone else was going to add. Emilie swung her head around to Maguire. Intrepid’s second Lieutenant nodded. “It was another negative photon wave.”
“They are certainly looking for something,” Alveraz said. “What is our next move?”
Emilie eyed the images of the Karacknid squadron. All but one of their ships looked to be about the size of destroyers. She reckoned Intrepid could take on a couple of them, but not thirteen. And then there was the larger ship. It had to be at least the size of a battleship. “Do you think that big one is where this photon wave came from?” she asked Matthews.
“It has to be,” the scientist confirmed. “There is no way one of the smaller ships has the reactors to do it. It’s pretty amazing to think that the larger ship does.”
“What if most of the ship’s internals are dedicated to reactors,” Alveraz asked.
“That would be more plausible, given what we know about Karacknid energy reactors,” Matthews replied.
Emilie saw what he was getting at. “It’s a dedicated Kalassai sensor platform, not a warship at all?”
Alveraz nodded. “Why not, if they’re building long range ships to hunt them, why not a converted battleship?”
“We still can’t take on thirteen Karacknid destroyers. Even if they have sacrificed some of their weapons for extra range, can we?” Jones asked.
“No,” Emilie responded. “We certainly can’t. There isn’t much more we can do right now but hole up here and hope they don’t spot us. Maguire, I want our drone sent out again. Program it to poke its head out every ten minutes. Only for a few seconds. I want it to come back and update us if anything changes out there.”
“Yes Captain,” Maguire replied.
“What about the Pinyal?” Matthews asked. “Their world is defenseless against this Karacknid force.”
“And hopefully not their target,” Emilie answered. “The Pinyal have no technologies nor an industrial base that should attract the Karacknids. Plus, we are a long way from their borders. With luck, this squadron will just leave them alone.”
“We can’t just sit here if they launch an attack,” Matthews countered.
Before Emilie could respond, Alveraz jumped in. “Doctor. That is enough. You are under my command. If you have a problem you speak with me. Not our Captain.”
Emilie shared a look with Alveraz. He needed to have his people better under control, even if they were civilians. Even so, she met Matthews’ stare. “If they do attack the Pinyal, then yes, we will just sit here. There is nothing we can do for them. Our mission is to find the Kalassai. Nothing more, nothing less.” Though she hated herself for saying it, and she wasn’t sure she believed it, Emilie wanted Matthews to have no doubt who called the shots. The doctor had been nothing but helpful for the last year, but Emilie knew she hated the Karacknids as much as anyone onboard Intrepid. She had lost family in the Karacknid attack on Earth. Though that didn’t give her an excuse to act as she had. Emilie held Matthews’ gaze until the doctor lowered her eyes. “Good,” Emilie said as she returned her attention to the main holo projector. Though the tension on the bridge had suddenly risen, she ignored it as she waited to see what would happen next.
It wasn’t until an hour later that the drone returned. When it did Emilie’s finger began to tap as she waited for a run down on its sensor data. “They have left,” Maguire reported as a new image of the Karacknid squadron appeared on the main holo projector. The ships waited for several seconds, then turned and accelerated towards another shift passage in the system. As soon as they reached it, they jumped out.
“So they didn’t find what they were looking for,” Emilie mused.
“What are your orders now?” Jones asked.
“A good question,” Emilie responded. “Thoughts?” she asked her bridge officers at large.
“We may need to consider what kind of extra security precautions we take going forward,” Maguire suggested. “If the Karacknids have one long range squadron searching for the Kalassai this far from their border, they may have more. We could run into them at any time. If we get caught out in the open, their negative energy wave might allow them to detect us.”
“A very good point,” Emilie replied. “Dr. Matthews, I expect a full scientific report on what you think the capabilities of this new sensor technology the Karacknids have at your earliest convenience. I want to know just how far away we could be and the Karacknids still detect us.”
“I’ll begin running simulations,” Matthews replied in a neutral tone.
Alveraz was the next to speak. “I know you’re not going to like this,” he said without meeting Emilie’s eyes. “But perhaps we need to rethink our chances of success. If the Karacknids think they need to go to such efforts to hunt the Kalassai, what chance do we have? There is no way we can develop our own negative mass photon wave. Even if we could, we’d never be able to power it. At this stage we don’t even know if we could detect a Kalassai ship without one.”
Emilie felt like she had been punched in the gut. After the hours they had spent talking about their hopes of finding the Kalassai and getting them to help in the war with the Karacknids; now Alveraz was giving up? It felt like he was giving up on her.
Whether he sensed her thoughts or not, Alveraz continued when she didn’t speak. “I hate the idea as much as you. Believe me. But we have to think about this rationally. If we have next to no chance of finding the Kalassai, then our time could be spent better elsewhere. We could search the systems on the other side of the wormhole. In the opposite direction to Conclave space. It may be that there are other civilizations out there that could help us.”
“Or we could just find more of what we’ve found out here,” Emilie countered. “More immature civilizations that would stand no chance against the Karacknids. We know the Kalassai have been at war with the Karacknid for over a century. They are still our best chance.”
“What do you suggest?” Alveraz asked. “How are we going to find them?”
A handful of things went through Emilie’s mind but none of them sounded convincing to her, never mind the rest of her officers. They would follow her if she insisted they continue their search but at some point boredom and its apparent hopelessness would get to them.
“There is another option,” Seth Hassan said. Emilie frowned; Seth was still a teenager. He had been brought on this mission as a part of Alveraz’ team because of his computer skills, not for his strategic advice. Whether he picked up on Emilie and Alveraz’s facial expressions, it didn’t seem to matter, for Seth continued. “We could always follow the Karacknid ships. If they have this specialized technology to hunt the Kalassai, then they might be our best chance to actually find them.”
Emilie bit her lip. That was one of the stupidest suggestions she had ever heard. If they tried to follow the Karacknid ships they would be detected soon or later. Even without their new sensor technology, Intrepid would be detected. And that didn’t even address what they would do if the Karacknids actually found a Kalassai ship. Unless the Kalassai had the numerical advantage, Intrepid would have to run away from any fight. Even if the Kalassai did end up fighting, there was no guarantee Intrepid wouldn’t be treated as hostile. Showing up with a Karacknid fleet wouldn’t endear them to the Kalassai. When she looked over to Alveraz Emilie saw he was staring at her. She gave him a dirty look. She knew exactly what he was thinking. Seth’s idea was idiotic, and yet she didn’t have any others. Without a negative photon energy sensor it might be impossible to find a Kalassai ship. That meant they needed the Karacknid sensor. And yet following them, the only way to make use of theirs, was all but asking to be killed or captured.
“Alright,” s
he said more in anger than acquiescence as she held Alveraz’s gaze. “We may have bitten off more than we can chew. We can’t keep running around in the middle of nowhere hoping we stumble across the Kalassai. I’m not giving up the hunt. But we need to think through things, maybe we should head back to Folian space. There we can send an update back to Earth and see if there are any orders waiting for us.”
When Alveraz nodded in approval Emilie looked away. If there were orders, it was very unlikely they would be from her uncle asking her to keep looking for the Kalassai. Intrepid would probably be ordered home for a full debrief. If you can think of a good reason to continue the search by the time we get there, we can ignore the orders as out of date, Emilie said to herself. Or better yet, if we can think of them before we get to Damial, we can turn around and continue our search. There must be another answer to our problem rather than just needing a negative photon sensor. “Set course back to Damial,” she ordered reluctantly. “But I want everyone working double shifts to analyze the Karacknids’ sensor technology. If we can replicate it or find our own way to achieve the same results, I want to know about it as soon as possible.”
“Aye Captain,” Jones replied.
As her officers got to work, Emilie sat in silence. She didn’t say anything as Maguire finished collecting the fuel they needed and brought Intrepid out of the gas giant’s atmosphere. Nor did she speak when Jones set course for the shift passage they had entered the system from. For nearly two hours Emilie sat still as her mind went over their search for the Kalassai from every angle. As hard as she tried though, nothing came to her.
It was only when she closed her eyes and gave herself a shake that it hit her; there was something else pulling at the back of her mind. At once she forgot about trying to find a solution to finding the Kalassai and tried to figure out what was bothering her. Something just didn’t feel right. Closing her eyes again, Emilie replayed the events of the day. It took her a full five minutes to put her finger on it. When she did her eyes shot open. She found Alveraz staring at her. “What is it?” he asked.
Emilie ignored him. Instead she swung around to Jones. “Recalculate our shift jump. I want to do a micro jump of just half a second.”
“Yes Captain,” Jones said, though it was clear he wanted to ask why.
Emilie looked back around to Alveraz. “Just wait,” was all the explanation she was willing to give. For some reason the Karacknids had thought it necessary to send out two negative mass photon waves. That was what had been troubling her. The first wave had caught Intrepid by surprise. But as soon as they had detected it they had been able to take extra precautions. Surely so too would any Kalassai ships that were in the system. The Karacknids had to know that too, so why the second wave? The only reason Emilie could come up with was that they had been expecting to find a Kalassai ship. The second wave had been sent out of frustration, or a vain hope of detecting something. But if the Kalassai had already been hiding… “Focus our passive sensors on the gas giant when we exit shift space,” Emilie ordered. “If there is so much as a whiff of gas out of place, I want to know about it.”
Chapter 15
With so many species now accepted as full Imperial citizens, the culture of the Empire has evolved over the centuries. One lesson from Humanity’s past has ensured the Empire remains united. Only species whose leaders and culture can whole heartedly ascribe to the ideals of the constitution are admitted. In this way, their unique cultural and political perspectives can be allowed to flourish and enrich the Empire without diluting the foundation of what has made the Empire what it is.
-Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD.
Three hours of watching and waiting later Emilie couldn’t hold it off any longer. “I’ll be right back,” she said as she stood and made her way to her quarters where she could relieve herself.
“How long?” Alveraz asked her when she returned.
“Until I say so,” Emilie replied, knowing he meant how much longer would they wait. In truth she didn’t know. They hadn’t detected anything out of place but she wasn’t going to give up that easily. She focused on the holo projection of the system’s gas giant. For another two hours she sat almost perfectly still. As determined as she was to play out her hunch, she was just as determined not to give Alveraz any excuse to try to talk her into leaving for real.
“Look at this,” Lieutenant Maguire said, breaking the silence. “This is strange.”
“What?” Emilie snapped at once.
“I can’t really tell, but the passive sensors are saying there is something moving in orbit around the gas giant.”
“Let me see,” Emilie ordered as she looked down to her command chair. Moments later Maguire sent the data to one of her holo screens. She stared at it for several seconds before giving up. It made no more sense to her than it did to Maguire. “Matthews?” she asked as she lifted her eyes to the astrophysicist.
“Your guess is as good as mine Captain,” Matthews replied. “But there is something there. And given that the Karacknids seemed to think there was a Kalassai ship in the system…”
“Exactly,” Emilie agreed. “We have no idea what a Kalassai ship would look like on our sensors. “Put us into stealth,” she ordered. “And take us into the system. Set course for the gas giant.”
“Whatever it is, it’s breaking orbit,” Maguire reported twenty minutes later. “It’s hard to get a good fix on its heading, but I think it’s heading towards the system’s third shift passage.”
“That makes sense,” Alveraz said, “If they are so secretive, they’ll not want to head in the direction we or the Karacknids went.”
“Put us onto an intercept trajectory,” Emilie ordered. She glanced at Alveraz. “What do you think?” she asked him. “Do we send them a message now, or try and get a little closer?”
“If we get too close they may think we are hostile and open fire,” Alveraz replied. “On the other hand, if we reveal ourselves now, given how secretive they appear to be, they may opt to just run. And we don’t know how fast their ships are…”
“My thoughts exactly,” Emilie replied. “Navigation, keep us on this course until we’re no longer closing with this contact. Then take us to full military power. Alveraz, I want your team to put together a first contact message. We’ll broadcast it a minute before we go to full power. I want to make sure whoever it is out there knows we mean them no harm.”
“I’ll get right on it,” Alveraz said as he gestured for his team members who were on the bridge to follow him to one of the adjoining briefing rooms.
“How does their speed compare to ours?” Emilie asked once Alveraz was gone.
“If their current velocity is the best they have got, then our top speed would beat theirs by about fifteen percent,” Maguire answered.
“But they could be playing it safe so they don’t draw any attention,” Emilie finished. “Any ideas on their drive technology?”
Maguire shook her head. “At those acceleration rates, we should be picking up some gravimetric waves. But there is nothing. Either they’ve got some very sophisticated impulse engines, or they have some other kind of sub light propulsion. Matthews would be the one to speculate on that.”
“Still no visuals?’’
“Nothing we can make sense of,” Maguire answered.
Emilie nodded and returned to staring at the strange contact on the main holo projector. She didn’t look away for the next forty minutes. “It’s time,” she finally said after Alveraz’s team returned. “Transmit the message.”
As expected, though she had hoped otherwise, the contact reacted at once and not in a positive way. Clearly without taking the time to process the message, the contact accelerated and turned away from Intrepid.
“Follow it!” Emilie ordered. “And send the crew to battle stations.” She turned to Alveraz, “What’s your guess, do we have the acceleration advantage?”
Alveraz shrugged, “I don’t know, but we’re going to find out!”
Emilie beamed at him. They certainly were! After so many months, her adrenaline was pumping. “Keep transmitting your message.”
On the holo projector, despite its best efforts, the strange contact continued to close with Intrepid. Its momentum was still carrying it towards Emilie’s command. As its acceleration rate kept climbing, the rate of closure slowed. “Still no sign of any attempt to communicate?” she asked.
“None,” Jones answered.
Emilie pushed her lips together. The contact was going to get away. “Increase our acceleration rate to match theirs. Take the safety of the engines.” When Alveraz and Jones’ eyes shot up from their command consoles, Emilie met their questioning looks with a stern gaze. “Do it!” She wasn’t going to let the ship escape. “This may be our only chance!”
Moments later, Intrepid’s acceleration rate increased to one hundred and five percent of her maximum. Then it increased to a hundred and seven and then a hundred and eight. In response, the strange ship increased its rate too, but not by enough. Ever so slowly, Intrepid started to close with it.