by Ryk Brown
Upon entering, the general immediately looked to the collection of massive display screens along the front wall of the facility, noting that a single contact was the cause of the alert. “What have we got, Colonel?” the general asked.
“An unidentified ship appeared on our outer defense perimeter moments ago. Within seconds, it had jumped to the edge of our system.”
“The Benicasi can’t make repetitive jumps so quickly,” the general said. “Ristani can, but we haven’t seen them in a while.”
“Intel shows the Ristani are currently involved in a dispute with the Sinato.”
“Again?”
Another alarm sounded, interrupting their conversation.
“Target has jumped to high orbit!” one of the technicians reported urgently. “Automated defense systems have activated!”
“Batteries one four seven and one four eight have acquired and are launching intercepts!” the weapons officer reported.
“Target has jumped again!” the lead tracking officer announced.
“Where?” the general demanded.
“Far side. Target is coming about.”
“Batteries five two four and five two five are launching intercepts!” the weapons officer reported.
“Who the hell is it?” the general wondered.
“Eight intercepts have jumped!” the weapons officer reported. “Target is engaging the intercepts!”
General Pellot watched the icons representing their intercept missiles disappear from the display as they neared the unidentified target. “Definitely not Benicasi,” he said.
“Two impacts!”
The icon representing the unidentified contact remained on the screen.
“It must be shielded,” the colonel decided.
“Six more intercepts have launched,” the weapons officer announced.
“Target has jumped.”
The general studied the other screens, finally finding the new location of the icon. “There!” he said, pointing.
“Target has jumped into the atmosphere!” the tracking officer announced.
“Defense batteries have locked on and are firing!” the weapons officer reported.
“Public alert sirens have been activated.”
“Target is scanning the surface!” the senior sensor officer announced. “Wide beam, full spectrum, active!”
“All batteries are firing!”
“I want that target destroyed…NOW!” the general barked.
Suddenly, the icon disappeared.
The general glanced at all the screens again, expecting to see the icon, but did not. “Did we get it?”
“Negative,” the senior sensor officer replied.
“Target jumped again,” the tracking officer added.
“To where?” the general wondered.
After several moments, the senior sensor officer reported, “No contacts, sir. Target appears to have departed our defense zone.”
General Pellot did not look pleased. “How the hell did that ship evade our defenses?” He looked at the colonel. “Run all readings through all known databases, including the ones the Karuzari gave us. I want to know who the hell that was and why they were here.”
* * *
Nathan entered the Aurora’s bridge, sharing an appreciative nod with the Ghatazhak guard at the entrance when the guard did not announce his arrival.
“Welcome back,” Cameron greeted, rising from the command chair. “I trust things went well on Volon?”
“They were a little preoccupied, what with all the damage they had to deal with,” Nathan replied. “But they were interested.”
“The fact that they were just pounded by the Dusahn probably had something to do with it,” Jessica added as she entered the bridge.
“How’s the Voss?” Nathan asked.
“Vlad and the SilTek engineering droids have been working nonstop since you landed. His last report an hour ago indicated that the damage was actually fairly light. He expects to have her back up to specs and ready for action in about fourteen hours.”
“Gotta love those droids,” Jessica commented.
“That’s good news,” Nathan stated, turning to head for his ready room. “You have the conn, Lieutenant, he ordered the tactical officer, indicating for Cameron to follow them.
Nathan and Jessica entered the room, with Nathan heading for his desk while Jessica assumed her usual position sprawled out on the couch. Cameron entered a moment later, closing the hatch behind her.
“Something up?” Nathan asked, noticing that Cameron had closed the hatch.
“We received an urgent communication from SilTek Defense Command about an hour ago,” Cameron began. “They were buzzed by a small ship of unknown origin a few hours ago.”
“Buzzed?” Nathan wondered.
“It jumped through their defenses, only taking a few hits along the way, but apparently suffering no significant damage. It finally jumped into the atmosphere, flying over the city. It performed a full-spectrum scan before jumping away.”
“It didn’t attack?” Jessica asked.
“Never fired a shot.”
“And they have no idea who sent it?” Nathan asked to confirm.
“They had no idea,” Cameron replied.
“And we do?” Jessica surmised by her inflection.
“We still don’t recognize the origin of the ship itself,” explained as she handed her data pad to Nathan, “but Kaylah examined the characteristics of the target’s sensor beams, and she believes they are very similar to Dusahn sensor technology.”
“SilTek’s too far away,” Jessica argued. “It would take the Dusahn months to reach them.”
“As far as we know, the Dusahn don’t even know of SilTek’s existence,” Cameron stated. “However, they could have used their jump-trail tracking methods to follow one of our cargo ships back to SilTek. They could even have followed the Voss back to SilTek. Their gunships and octos do have series jump capability.”
Nathan studied the data pad a moment. “I think this might be a Deca runner.”
“A what?” Jessica asked.
“Deca is a small system on the outer edge of the Pentaurus sector,” Nathan explained.
“I’ve never heard of it,” Cameron said.
“That’s not surprising,” Nathan replied. “It’s probably not called Deca in our star charts, and Deca doesn’t allow any ships other than their own to enter the system.”
“How do you know about them?” Jessica wondered.
“I saw a ship like this one on Lellandy once. Marcus is the one who told me about its origin at the time. They called them runners because they were used to run goods between Deca worlds.”
“Worlds?” Jessica wondered.
“Deca has just a single gas giant, but it has dozens of moons orbiting it, four of which are hospitable, and six of which are colonized. They only began converting their ships to jump ships about a year ago. Story is that some idiot cargo captain tried convincing the Decans to let him haul some of their resources to other systems. But the Decans like to shoot first and ask questions later. They reverse-engineered the jump drive technology from the wreckage, and voila, they had access to a whole new group of potential clients for their resources.”
“How did the Dusahn get hold of one of these runners?” Jessica wondered.
“Deca’s not too far off the beaten path for them,” Nathan replied.
“Then we’re assuming that it was operated by the Dusahn,” Jessica surmised.
“It would be the safest assumption at the moment,” Cameron suggested.
“Have you informed SilTek about your suspicions?” Nathan asked Cameron.
“Not yet. Kaylah just gave me her report while you were landing. I figured I’d wait to speak with you about it first.”
Nathan looked at the data pad again, sighing. “If this is the Dusahn, it changes things.”
“How so?” Jessica wondered. “SilTek is outside of their reach, right?”
“An hour ago, I would have said they were outside of the Dusahn’s recon range,” Nathan replied.
“It took the Dusahn three days to reach the Rogen system,” Jessica insisted. “A week to reach Orswella. SilTek is what, three times that distance?”
“How hard would it be to strap an antimatter warhead onto a runner?” Nathan pointed out.
“Great,” Jessica stated. “Anything we can do to prevent that?”
“Short of toppling the Dusahn Empire?” Nathan replied.
“Maybe SilTek can beef up their defenses,” Cameron suggested. “Come up with some new tech or something?”
“Other than a full planetary shield that can withstand an antimatter blast?” Nathan replied. “Doubtful.”
“Surely they can come up with something,” Jessica insisted.
“That was the whole point of that challenge,” Nathan told her. “To demonstrate that their defenses could be defeated.”
Jessica sighed, putting her feet up on Nathan’s desk. “How much time do you think we have?”
“Assume for a moment that the Dusahn first started following our cargo ships three weeks ago,” Nathan began, pushing Jessica’s feet off his desk.
“Why three weeks?” Jessica wondered.
“That’s when we liberated Corinair,” Cameron explained. “After that, our ships were running back and forth between Corinair and SilTek on a regular basis.”
“But they were using the evasion algorithm,” Jessica pointed out.
“Which doesn’t make it impossible to follow a jump trail…”
“It only makes it take longer,” Nathan said, completing Cameron’s sentence.
“Much longer,” Cameron added. “And they had to be curious about where we were getting all our new technology from.”
“It was only a matter of time before the Dusahn found SilTek.”
“But why destroy it?” Jessica asked.
“Because they don’t have the resources to conquer it,” Cameron explained. “Denying us those resources is their best hope of survival.”
Nathan thought for a moment, taking a deep breath and letting it out in a long sigh. “We can’t wait,” he decided. “We must go to the Jung and ask for help.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to simply take out all of the Dusahn’s ships?” Jessica suggested.
“We could, but we’d have to take out every jump-capable ship they had,” Cameron explained. “Warships, gunships, runners, shuttles, you name it.”
“That would be nearly impossible,” Nathan agreed.
“And they’d likely just retaliate by launching more jump missiles at Corinair,” Cameron added.
“We can take out their surface-based jump missile launchers as well,” Jessica argued.
“They’d just build more,” Nathan replied. “And in secret. Hell, they could create jump missiles that could reach all the way to SilTek and deliver antimatter warheads that way. The only way to protect SilTek, and everyone else, is to defeat the Dusahn once and for all.”
“But there’s got to be a better way than asking the Jung for help,” Cameron insisted.
“It’s either that or provoke Griogair into blowing up his own empire,” Nathan replied. “And I’m not ready to sacrifice billions, even if it means saving trillions more. Not if there’s a better way.”
“Even if that better way is to ally with an old enemy?” Cameron wondered.
“Believe me, it’s not something I want to do,” Nathan assured her.
“If you fight Griogair, he will kill you,” Jessica reminded him.
“Which is also an outcome I’d like to avoid,” Nathan replied. “The question is, how?”
“And you really think the Jung are the answer,” Cameron repeated.
“I don’t know,” Nathan admitted. “But I intend to find out. After all, the Jung have just as much motivation to see the Dusahn defeated as anyone. Perhaps even more so.”
“So when are we going?” Jessica asked.
“You said the Voss is supposed to be ready tomorrow?” Nathan asked Cameron.
“According to Vlad, sometime tomorrow morning.”
“Then we’ll leave tomorrow afternoon,” Nathan decided. “Meanwhile, we need to increase the frequency of our recon drone sorties to Takara and prevent them from leaving the system.”
“Are you suggesting we operate a blockade?” Cameron wondered.
“I don’t see much choice,” Nathan replied. “Especially after their attack on Volon.”
“That’s going to be nearly impossible,” Cameron insisted.
“Constant recons, coupled with constant patrols along all known shipping lanes in and out of the system, and regular recon of all potential destination worlds would be a good start,” Nathan suggested.
“You’re talking dozens of worlds,” Cameron reminded him. “We don’t have the resources to monitor that many destinations, let alone to interdict.”
“Then start with our allies,” Nathan suggested. “And keep the Aurora on quick-response readiness.”
“It wouldn’t hurt to keep some Gunyoki on board, as well,” Jessica suggested.
“If a Dusahn ship gets past our blockade and shows up at one of our allies, the Aurora should be able to respond within a minute or two,” Nathan stated.
“More than enough time for the Dusahn to hit them with a few nukes,” Jessica pointed out, “or worse.”
Nathan looked at Jessica. “You realize you’re making my case for going to the Jung, right?”
“Believe me,” Jessica replied, “I’m not trying to.”
* * *
Nathan ascended the stair ladder to the Voss’s command deck, making his usual one-eighty to the left to go around the railing that encircled the opening to the lower deck. His default duty position had become standing behind the flight pilots’ seats and leaning against the backside of that railing. From there, he could see what his pilots were doing, watch the main sensor display on the center console, and have access to the comm-panel on the center overhead console. It wasn’t ideal, but it worked for him.
Today, however, he found something different. “What’s this?” he asked, pointing to some padding mounted along the railing where he normally leaned.
“We thought you could use a real duty station,” Dylan explained from the copilot’s seat, smiling.
Nathan took up his normal position, leaning back against the padding. “Not exactly a command chair, but…”
“There’s more,” Dylan interrupted. “Push that orange button on the overhead to the left.”
Nathan glanced up, finding the button with ease. He pressed it, and a small panel deployed from a newly installed box behind the pilot’s seat on the left. The panel reached its full height, about a meter off the deck, and then folded out into its fully deployed position in front of him. “What the heck is this?”
“We gave you an interface screen,” Dylan explained. “That way, you won’t have to keep bending over to see the overhead panel.”
“A nice thought, but…”
“It’s a fully functional touchscreen display,” Dylan continued. “You can access just about any system on the ship. You can set it up however you want, just like an auxiliary station. This way, you can do anything you need to, without having to tell one of us to do it.”
“How did you manage to do all this in one day?” Nathan wondered.
“Actually, Del’s people started working on it nearly a week ago. It arrived this morning.”
“Whose idea was this?”
Josh said nothing, just pointing at Dylan.
“Good thinking, Dylan,” Na
than congratulated as he activated the display. “What’s this button on the side?”
“It expands your back rest.”
Curious, Nathan pressed the button. Padded sections extended out the sides of the pad against which he leaned, angling forward slightly to create a semi-wraparound cradle. At the same time, a piece extended upward, providing more back support.
“Next time we get pounded, that should keep you from falling,” Dylan explained.
“Nice, but I’d prefer that we just avoid being pounded,” Nathan joked.
“You and me both,” Dylan agreed.
“We’re ready for departure any time,” Josh announced.
“The comm-panel on the overhead now folds down as well,” Dylan added.
“Very convenient,” Nathan replied, pulling the panel down for inspection. “Marcus,” he called over the intercom. “Are we buttoned up and ready to go?”
“Ready to depart whenever you are, Cap’n.”
“Take us out, Josh,” Nathan instructed.
“You got it.”
“Don’t you look comfy,” Jessica cooed as she entered the command deck.
“Pretty spiffy, huh?”
“Very,” Jessica agreed. “I hope you don’t mind, but I brought three additional crewmen on board.”
“Why?” Nathan wondered.
“Since we’re going into Jung space, I figured it would be better if we had enough hands to keep all guns manned instead of using Vlad, Marcus, and me.”
“Do we have room?” Nathan wondered.
“Marcus created additional storage space in the missile bays, so we were able to clear the upper bunks.”
“Who gets to double up?” Nathan asked.
“The Ghatazhak can double up,” she replied. “They’re used to it.”
“Who are the other two?”
“These guys,” Jessica replied, pointing at Josh and Dylan.
“What?” Josh complained.
“Most of the time, only one of you is up here,” Jessica explained, “so you’re naturals for hot-racking. Besides, would you rather bunk with Marcus?”
“Oh hell no,” Josh replied. He looked at Dylan. “I call bottom bunk.”
* * *
Nathan had taken advantage of their pre-jump recharge layover to get some much-needed sleep. He had no idea how the next few days would go, let alone the next few hours.