“Have you been inside it?” Ryan asked.
Mark shook his head. “No, not physically. I sent in a camouflaged probe. It sent back plenty of information.”
“Well that’s a start,” Nagata concluded.
“We’re not going to have time for much more, gentlemen. We were attacked leaving that world by more of those predator fast attack ships. They have heavily fortified shields and almost pack the punch of a full blown cruiser.”
“So these smaller ships represent a big improvement in technology for the Agalum,” Brennan noted.
Mark replied grimly. “Yes, a very significant advancement over what they had before. Eddie barely won that battle on Chakix, and still barely got away with his life. The Stargrazer is still being repaired and we may not be able to complete those repairs on board the Cagliostro.”
“You seem very concerned with these new, smaller Agalum vessels, Johnson. Any reason why we should not just consider them more of the same? I mean we have been holding our own pretty well against everything they’ve thrown at us,” Carlson noted.
“Captain Carlson, to be honest we’d be foolish not to consider this a major advancement in Agalum technology. Thousands of these small ships swarming across the Earth would be devastating. They are fast, tough, and have increased firepower. Right now the Cagliostro and the Stargrazer, to a lesser extent, represent the pinnacle of Earth’s space force technologically. All of the advancements to each of your military vessels have come from these two ships, including your shields and hyper-warp technology. Remember, gentlemen, two years ago this was the only faster than light ship from Earth. Now the entire fleet has that ability. These ‘Predator’ fast attack ships represent a change in Agalum thinking, which before was ‘bigger is better’. Now they seem to be going with quantity over size.”
“But is it quantity over quality? You defeated several of these ships yourselves you say,” Argento asked.
“The quality seemed pretty good,” Dan added with a shrug.
“Yeah, they took hits. These were not ‘cannon fodder’ ships, that’s for sure,” Red advised.
Nagata leaned back in his seat and steepled his fingers, “So we’re up against a potentially game changing weapons advancement. Johnson, have you thought about a countermeasure to these ships?”
Mark met his stare grimly. “It’s been on my mind, yes. But to be honest I have not had much of a chance to sit down and come up with something that will deal with a swarm of these things.”
“Which is why you should not be out here traipsing around the galaxy getting into trouble. You should be back home designing and building weaponry for EPIC,” Nagata countered.
“I do more good out here than I would trapped behind some desk. In case you forgot, Captain Nagata, once again my crew and I are the ones who discovered this very immediate threat, not the military, who by the way I have nothing but respect for.”
Nagata relaxed, seeming to collapse within himself, “I…apologize, Captain Johnson. I know of your commitment to ending the Agalum threat. I also know what you have done for the planet in the past two years and how only your timely thinking and intervention saved us all from defeat at that time.”
Mark nodded. “Thank you, Captain Nagata. I, as well as you, know the pressure we are all under with this war. I suggest you gentlemen return to your ships and we can begin to formulate our attack plan. I would like to be underway tomorrow morning if possible and commence our attack at that time.”
“Agreed,” Nagata replied.
“I will speak to you all at 20:00 hours tonight. Hopefully we can come to an agreement on what each of us will be doing during the attack at that time,” Mark finished.
“That is amenable, Captain Johnson,” Ryan replied, stretching his hand toward Mark, who took it in a strong grip matching Ryan’s own and shook it firmly.
Chapter 29
Mark, Red, and Dan watched the shuttles leave the hangar deck and disappear into the six ships ringed around the Cagliostro.
“Whaddaya think?” Dan asked.
“We have our fleet, though it’s only half a dozen ships of various sizes and firepower.” Mark shrugged.
“Yeah kinda what I’m thinkin’ too,” Dan sullenly agreed.
“What about you, Red? From a security man’s perspective are we going to have enough men and firepower to take down that Agalum base and those ships out there? Don’t forget we saw an Agalum G’Kor class world crusher in orbit around Chakix.”
“That’s a big space ship, loaded with firepower. But unless they are going to destroy Chakix, which I doubt since they have a base there, it’s really too bulky and slow in a pitched battle. But its guns could probably destroy any ship in this fleet in two blasts. Then again, it’s pretty unprotected up close. A few ships circling it close to its skin and blasting off major components, like weaponry, fuel storage, if we can get at it that is, communications, and even their engines and then hangar decks and we should be able to render it useless and helpless if not outright destroy it.”
Mark continued to stare out of the hangar deck at the blackness of space. “But the key is getting close enough to it to do so.”
Red nodded, “Yeah that pretty much sums it up, Mark. No matter what ships are in the attack, if they don’t get up on its skin, they’ll be vaporized.”
Mark sighed and turned back toward his friends. “Wonderful. Red, did you get any readings on how many other Agalum ships are circling that world?”
“Honestly, there are too many. Upward of a hundred right now, or at least when we last saw it.”
“We’re going to need a diversion, something to draw some off, hell hopefully most of them off. At least temporarily.”
“What are you thinking, Mark?” Dan asked with slit eyes.
“I’ll let you know in a few hours,” Mark replied. He turned with a grin on his face and entered the maglovator, heading to his office on the engineering deck.
Chapter 30
“Change of plans, gentlemen. Await my signal here and I’ll contact you when we’re ready to begin the assault, unless there are other changes, which is entirely possible.”
On the main view screen of the Cagliostro was a large image of Captain Nagata on the left side of the screen and five smaller images running down the right, one above the other.
Mark Johnson’s declaration was met with differing responses. Captains Ryan and Jepson merely nodded in agreement. Carlson and Nagata seemed to seethe with anger, but were not quite ready to explode just yet. The rest appeared to have a ‘wait and see’ attitude.
“What’s your plan, Johnson?” Carlson asked.
“You’ll see when I return.”
“What if you don’t? Nagata queried suspiciously.
“Then go on without me and destroy that base.”
“Why be so secretive, Captain?” Argento prodded.
“Because I’m not about to let you all try to talk me out of this. Secondly, the Cagliostro can fully camouflage itself. With what I’m attempting we’re going to need that. None of you can help me with this. This has to be done stealthily. That’s something only the Cag can do right now.”
“How long will this mystery mission of yours take?” Nagata pressed.
“I’m assuming two to three days at most, but I can’t be certain. Just keep your comm line open for our call. When you get it, be prepared to implement whatever information I give you immediately.”
Nagata’s eyes narrowed. “What are you planning, Johnson?”
Mark smiled. “Captain Nagata, I’m planning to save the day. Again.”
Ariel cut the communication off at Mark’s command.
“Take us out of here, Danny.”
“On our way, Mark,” Sledge replied steering the Cagliostro away, and accelerating into hyper-warp.
The Cagliostro disappeared in a burst of light, leaving the half dozen ships behind.
Mark asked, “ETA to Chakix world?”
“Approximately four hours at
present speed, Mark,” Dan answered.
“Double our speed. I want to be there in two.”
Dan nodded and accelerated the ship even more.
“Red, if you see anything out there, I mean anything, I want to know what it is and how far away. Especially if it’s a predator.”
Mark turned back to Danny. “How’s the camouflage unit?”
“Camo is fully engaged, we are invisible.”
Mark nodded and smiled, “Good let’s go hunt us up a predator.”
***
Three hours later the Cagliostro sat in stationary orbit around Chakix and waited.
Sledge turned toward Mark and announced, “Camouflage is at one hundred percent, Mark.”
Johnson nodded, “Thanks Dan. We may be here a while. But those big G’Kor class ships out there can’t see us. That’s a plus.”
“Yes it is,” agreed Ariel, “Do you have a plan to capture one of those things?”
“I do. I plan to float around up here until one appears on long range scanners and then we’ll fly to it. overpower it and magno-beam it aboard.”
“That’s a plan?” Eddie laughed.
“It is for what we need. We really don’t need to get fancy with this. When we find one I’ll have Ariel jam all communications coming out of that thing and then we’ll take it by force. Once aboard the Cag we’ll throw the crew in a cell and engineering will dismantle the thing.”
Dan swiveled his seat around to face Mark. “What if it’s booby trapped?”
“I suppose it could be.” Mark held his chin in thought. “We are talking about the Agalum after all, so anything’s possible.”
“It’s somethin’ ta consider,” Sledge added. “But that’s all. I mean it’s probably not anything ta worry about.”
“No, but you are right, Danny. Anything is possible with these people. I think that you should do a full scan on that ship when we get it, but do it outside the hangar deck. The last thing we need is for a ship that size blowing up inside the Cagliostro. It would destroy us.”
“How about we don’t take it in and instead send a boarding party after we scan it as much as possible from here?”
Mark nodded. “That works for me, Dan.”
“Good. I think that’s the safest way we’re gonna go with this,” Dan agreed grimly.
“When we capture one, everyone who boards it wears a heavy armor suit. I want this to happen as safely as possible,” Mark ordered.
“Sounds about right, Mark,” Red acknowledged.
“Red, your best men on this, okay? Those ships are small, smaller than the Stargrazer. They only hold one man.”
“Are you sure about that, Boss?” Eddie asked.
Mark swiveled his seat toward his gunner. “Well you fought one up close and personal, Eddie. What do you think? I thought we were all decided that they were one man attack ships, based on the bodies’ configuration.”
Eddie shrugged. “Yeah, sure, I think that you’re right, but what if they’re not? What if there’s different models of that style ship? Do you remember a few years back during the first battle with these lettuce headed freaks when we jammed sixty people into the Stargrazer? I mean, the one I fought sure seemed like a one man ship, but what if it was just one guy who was playin’ hero out there? Trying to take the ‘Grazer down?”
Mark nodded before answering. “I see your point. But the bottom line is we’ll never know unless we get one to take apart.”
“Are we in the right place to do that though?” Red asked.
Mark swung around to face him. “Meaning?”
“Look, here’s a star chart that shows where we were when we encountered those Predators a few days back.” Red pushed a few virtual buttons and a star chart blazed to life on the main view screen. “This is where we are now, and this is where we were when we fought those predators.”
He pointed out a kidney bean shaped pattern on the main viewer, which a dotted line sprang up at his command and stood out clearly for all to see.
“This whole area in between is where the predators could be. We’ve only seen Agalum activity in this area in the past, so I’m thinking we should concentrate our search there.”
“What do you have against where we are now?” Ariel inquired.
“This could be too congested, too much of a bottle neck. It could work against us. There could be Agalum all over us in no time.”
“Well, that is a possibility. But we can’t just wander aimlessly through trillions of square miles of space looking for a sixty foot long spaceship. At least here above Chakix we know there’s a good chance of us finding one,” Mark replied.
***
The Cagliostro sat in orbit above the planet they now referred to as Chakix for a day and a half, moving across it slowly from one pole to the other, from one position to another. Sweeping slowly and invisibly across the world, seeking one lone ‘predator’ ship.
“Mark, I’ve got something,” Red announced.
“A ‘Predator’?” Mark leaned forward in his seat and asked.
“Yeah. It just dropped out of hyper-warp about fifty thousand miles out.”
Mark nodded, his eyes slits. “Okay. Are they giving any indication that they see us?”
“No, nothing. I think we’re free and clear right now.” Red spun his seat around and faced Mark. “How do you want to play this?”
“I’d like to just snatch and grab it, but I know nothing’s ever going to go that easily. I’m thinking we block its communications if possible and then shoot out its engines as it’s entering the atmosphere.”
“Make it look like an engine malfunction?”
Mark nodded. “Yep that’s the idea, Red. Then we’ll tractor beam it into the shuttle deck, take out the crew and start taking the thing apart.”
“Once we make sure the thing’s not gonna blow up on us,” Dan added.
Mark agreed. “Right, Danny, once we make sure it’s safe.”
“Okay, sounds good,” Red concurred.
“Mark,” Ariel interrupted, “they’re trying to communicate with the base.”
“Good, let them. I’m in no rush. When they start heading planetside, we go in behind them.”
“What about our heat signature when we start to pierce the atmosphere? You know it’s going to make us visible,” Dan advised.
“Yes I do, Mr. Sledge. At that point we’re going to jam their communications and take out their engines. Remember, we’re not so concerned with their propulsion. It’s their shield design and weapons we want a look at from that thing. We all know how fast and maneuverable the ‘predator’ is. This is a definite step up for the Agalum. We need to see one up close. I’m not going to say this is a game changer for them just yet, but it could be.”
“What about the base? Aren’t you concerned they’ll see our heat signature too?” Ariel asked.
“Once we take out their engines we’re going to get very tight with them, then pull them inside.”
“I think I liked the other idea where we boarded them and checked it out first better,” Dan remarked.
“Here they go,” Red announced.
“Follow after them, Danny.”
Dan Sledge nodded. “You got it, Boss.”
The Cagliostro dipped invisibly toward the planet’s surface, mirroring its prey’s movements under Dan Sledge’s steady hands.
“Status?” Mark queried.
Dan answered, “Ship’s systems are all working at one hundred percent efficiency, including the camouflage unit. They don’t know we’re back here.”
“All right, we have to do this fast. Stay three thousand miles back of them until we begin to drop into the atmosphere, and at that point close quickly. I want to be on top of them before the atmospheric burn begins to show on our shields. Red, you and Ari block their transmissions beginning now. Eddie, as soon as they’re done you take out that ships engines.”
“You got it, Mark,” Eddie acknowledged.
Red and Ariel looked at each
other and he nodded. She smiled and touched a control on her virtual control panel an instant after Red had adjusted one on his. Immediately the smaller ship before them was blacked out from communications.
“Take them now,” Mark ordered.
The Cagliostro’s solar cannons flared to life emitting powerful blasts with pinpoint accuracy. Eddie’s aim was true. Solar blasts sprayed against the engine pods on either side of the hull on the Predator.
Explosions splashed brightly from both engines, lighting the sky up brightly.
But the Predator was not through yet. It swung around and looped overhead until it was facing the invisible Cagliostro.
“They’re trying to aim at our heat signature,” Red announced.
Mark ordered, “Take out their engines, Eddie.”
“Working on it, Boss.”
Eddie fired the Cagliostro’s solar cannons repeatedly, pounding the smaller ship before it could really move in the hot, heavy atmosphere. Here, its unique wing design was working against it. While it was still nimble it was nowhere near as swift turning as it was in frictionless space.
“Their shields are crumbling,” Red announced.
“Good, finish off those engines, then get the magnetic tractor beam on it,” Mark replied.
“What about their weapons?” Eddie turned and asked.
“Do what you can. We don’t need them shooting up the inside of the landing deck, but I also want that thing at least somewhat intact.”
“Gotcha, Boss,” Eddie nodded.
Turning back to his firing reticle on his virtual viewer, Eddie fired the Cag’s solar cannons again and again with just enough power to do damage but not incinerate the Predator craft.
“Its port side engine is down,” he announced.
“Good,” Mark said. “Now the starboard. What about their guns?”
“Starboard is just about done. “They are beginning to panic onboard that thing.”
The Cagliostro Chronicles II: Conflagration Page 17