The vid stopped again as soon as we jumped. A tactical display popped up instead. I didn’t bother looking at it, but I was thinking about the mosquitoes launching constantly against sporadic Trixone missile launches, and the point defense turrets firing constantly in all directions. None of which I’d been aware of. And given that a lot of this was very close to my own Excaliburs, it was bringing home to me just how much Long was doing to fight the ship, which I hadn't noticed.
“Why did the squadron jump out? Friendly fire incoming on their position. What we haven’t shown you yet is the situation actually happening near this planet. A larger than normal fleet of Ralnor ships is fighting a very normal force of Trixone ships, but this is the first time we’ve seen them slug it out at long distance. Some of the Ralnor have been doing something we’ve never considered possible before, and actually blunting pulse fire with their own pulses.”
He looked around the room to a lot of head shaking, as people expressed their disbelief.
“It worked, and we’ll figure out why it worked at some point. But the thing right here is, with half the Trixone fighters now either destroyed or attacking our squadron, the Ralnor fire was now going to hit where the Trixone fighters had been, and our squadron was squarely in that zone. They had the advantage of a seer calling it out in time, and they jumped away. But the message here is, your co-pilot is watching what is going on around you, and is there to jump your arse out of trouble.”
There were some chuckles, but the room was mainly quiet still.
The vid restarted, and we watched our demolition of the remainder of the main Trixone formation, and then we split up and began hunting groups. The vid continued this time, us now hunting singly. Then it stopped and the image zoomed in on a single Excalibur. There were expressions of surprise. The image was showing a nine torpedo launch, seconds away from a plant fighter.
“The mark five Excalibur. Nine torpedo launchers up front in addition to the normal forward guns. Three missile launchers in the rear, two loaded with FFs, and one loaded with IRs. It means a change in thinking for those who like forward firing missiles, and rewards those who are good shots at close range. You don’t need to fire all nine torpedoes, but as you’ll see in a second, Jig Woof knows what he’s doing with this ship.”
The vid restarted, the plant fighter vanished, and two more behind it broke up as well. There was a cheer from some of the midshipmen tables. The vid stopped again when we jumped out of the debris field. Another pop up showed part of the Long Water HUD, with all our shield values.
“This last part of the battle is what you can expect, but you’ll be going in with a lot more squadrons, and most likely some bigger hitters than corvettes. Notice the shield values. None of them are depleted to a dangerous level. Why? Because these pilots know how to jump out of trouble, and how to avoid being hit. And why is that important?”
He looked around, but of course, no-one was game to give him an answer.
The vid started again, and stopped almost immediately.
“Jig Woof again. You can see what his target is. One Excalibur five against a destroyer.”
The destroyer blew itself apart, seconds after the Excalibur vanished.
“That was a forty five torpedo hit, which took less than three seconds to launch.” A popup showed a shield value. “And in that three seconds, he was hit enough to take twenty percent of his shield strength down. This is why you’re spending so much time in the simulators. The Trixone are damned good, and even with the new bombers, you only get a few seconds to fire and jump away, or you risk death.”
I thought that was a bit over the top, given our suits, but the thought of spending the rest of a battle floating in space with dwindling life support and Trixone trying to hit you, was something best not dwelt on.
The vid changed to an overview, and we watched the remainder of the Trixone capital ships being slaughtered, by us and the Ralnor. When the screen vanished, there was quite a bit of applause.
“The simulators are being updated with the Excalibur mark five as fast as they can be. Squadron assignments will depend on your skill with torpedoes in the simulator battles. Those who can use them effectively will go to mark five squadrons, and those who can’t will go to mark four squadrons. The squadrons themselves will be given different roles, even within the same battle.”
“Many of you think you’re ready for a combat assignment. What you think is irrelevant. Your performance in the simulators is everything. Your ability to fight with your co-pilot is essential. Those who fail either, will be assigned to dropship command, or be released from service with the Imperium.”
There was some muttering from some tables, and more looks shot at Davis. She ignored them. Lacey stepped back and to the side, and General Harriman stepped up to the podium.
“The issue of AI ranks was decided this afternoon. All ship AIs will hence forth wear this insignia on their shoulders.” An image flashed up behind him, showing my exact suggestion. The short midshipman bar with a pip on top. “This both signifies the wearer is an AI, and has the rank of Sub-Lieutenant, Ensign, or Pilot Officer, depending on the branch of the Imperium military they belong to. When they advance in rank, this insignia will remain next to the higher rank. Admiral Jane, if you would please.”
She stepped forward, the screen now showing her in close up, and we saw her insignia change as her star moved to allow the i to fit. Her image vanished, and she stepped back.
“Understand this. In the Imperium, AIs are just another species. Until now, they chose not to have ranks. This was no longer appropriate, and has been rectified. All species are equal in the Imperium. It’s been said before, and I’ll say it again. If you can’t take orders from an AI with superior rank, go home. As time goes by, a lot of our AIs are going to advance in rank, and as reassignments occur, may become co-pilot to a new recruit or someone in the cadet or midshipman programs.”
His eyes settled on me for a moment.
“Mage Master Lieutenant Bud. Tell the room the rank of your first co-pilot.”
I stood, and felt the eyes of the room looking at me.
“Fleet Admiral.”
I sat, with quite a bit of muttering going on again. Nothing further was said, and the room was dismissed. We moved to our living room, with me expecting to get orders to return to the ship. They didn’t come.
What did, surprised all of us.
Fourteen
“What the hell?” exclaimed Jill.
“What?” asked Mel.
“One of the new dreadnaughts has been stolen.”
“Must be a joke,” said Norden.
It wasn’t a joke. Jill threw something to the wall, and a news report began playing.
“A short time ago, a group of unknown soldiers boarded one of our brand new dreadnaughts about to be launched from the shipyard, and jumped it away successfully.”
There was a short vid of a red ship, looking like a larger version of the Chaos class, with more guns than a Chaos class had, emerging from the shipyard, and immediately vanishing.
“The ship was the new Rogue class prototype dreadnaught, made specifically for the Imperator. Its current whereabouts is unknown. Some of the infiltration team, all American and ex-military, were apprehended earlier in the afternoon, and are now helping Imperium security with their enquiries.”
The vid ended.
“Well, that’s interesting,” I heard myself say.
“What is?” asked Gitte.
“Rogue came up in the last meeting I attended.”
“In what context?” asked Loren.
“Admiral Bentley wanted the ship, but Jane said she couldn’t have it. I guess no-one has it now.”
“Someone does,” said Woof.
“Do they know who?” asked Haynes.
We all looked at Jill, who had that ‘communing via PC’ look. It ended, and she looked around us.
“Nothing beyond a mercenary team made up mainly of ex-American marines, with a highly ex
perienced battalion colonel leading them.”
“How did they steal a dreadnaught?” asked Fina.
“Why did they steal a dreadnaught?” asked Dorm.
“The why we don’t know about yet,” said Jill. “The how was apparently pretty easily. They walked through customs apparently on their way to recruitment interviews, changed into replicas of our uniform, and walked onto the ship instead. The AI wasn’t installed yet, and they obviously had a pilot who could fly the ship manually, and some knowledge of jumping.”
“Makes no sense,” said Woof.
“Which part?” asked Metunga.
“Stealing a dreadnaught. One ship, even as powerful as that one probably is, can’t do much on its own.”
“Against us,” added Mel. “But against an American fleet? They’d own them.”
“Maybe so,” said Jill, “but why start a war with your own people? Or are they planning to attack one of the non-Imperium members along the spine?”
No-one had an answer to that one. We’d have to wait for the security people to find out more.
“Is the Imperium sending a force after them?” asked Dorm.
“How?” asked Woof. “They obviously jumped outside the comnavsat network or we’d be seeing fleet deployments after them, probably even us. Jumping off the grid would be really easy to do, and so long as they don’t jump back into it, there’s no way they can be tracked. Downside of the jump drive when in hostile hands.”
“So they got away cleanly?” asked Davis.
“Apparently so,” said Jill.
“I assume someone is getting their arse well and truly chewed out?” asked Metunga.
“Presumably,” I said. I rose. “I’m off to bed. No orders to return to the ship tonight, so we may as well sleep here. Training as normal, here, in the morning. Good night.”
I left them there, walked the short distance to my rooms, shifted uniform to a belt, and collapsed on the bed.
When I woke in the morning, the ship’s status displays lit up on the wall. A notation told me all fighters had been rearmed, and the ship’s own stocks of magazines had been replenished while we were at dinner. This included everything the ship itself had fired off, as well as magazines for the fighters.
Training was routine, starting on the running track, followed by several of the ground combat courses, and ending in our spa. Davis was initially reluctant to strip off, but we ignored her, quickly showered and stepped in, and let her decide for herself. She was last in, her nude body lean and athletic looking, but showing some scars down her right side.
I wasn’t going to ask, but Metunga did anyway. We heard the story of how she’d been shot up in one of the jump point battles with the Nazi Germans, managing to land her bird on her carrier in spite of major damage, and with shrapnel wounds from her own ship damage. She hadn't been too badly hit, and had been back on active duty within a month.
“Why did you join the Imperium?” I asked her.
“The war ended when the Imperator sealed the jump point. What was I supposed to do now? Be part of a peace time space force with only a few pirate skirmishes or police actions to look forward to? I’m a combat pilot. This is where the action is. This is where I belong.”
She sighed.
“But I never thought I’d end up with a mutiny charge against me, get stripped of rank, and then find myself stripping butt naked to sit in a spa with a bunch of kids.”
“Who are you calling kids?” demanded Fina.
“Sorry. Just a turn of phrase.”
“I’ll have you know Dorm and I are older than you are.”
“How much older?” asked Woof, grinning.
“That would be telling,” said Dorm, also grinning.
“Do you want to rephrase that last part?” I asked Davis.
“And then find myself stripping off to sit in a spa with insane pilots, whose skills I now recognize as worthy of respect.”
“Much better,” laughed Jill.
We moved on to breakfast in good spirits, and the rest of the squadron headed for the simulator room, while my arrow sent me to a meeting room. I found Jane waiting for me. Syrinx came in behind me, followed by several other mages I didn’t know.
“Chief Burnside is doing some interrogations of the American mercenaries we intercepted yesterday. I’d like you all to watch them.”
“Any particular reason?” asked Syrinx.
“We need to know if they’re lying or not.”
“Not my skill,” said one of the others. “It’s an oracle trait.”
“And yet,” said Jane, “you’ve acted a number of times now as if something was a lie, and was subsequently found to be so.”
“Luck.”
Even I found that a bit unlikely.
“Listen anyway.”
A screen opened on the wall, showing Burnside and a much older Jane, questioning a woman in civvies. Over the next few hours, the same questions were repeated to other women, and a single man. They all responded with pretty much the same answers.
The American sector, as they still referred to their home space, and not America as it was now as an Imperium member, had several million unhappy people who wanted to form their own society on a colony world, with a government which cared about real people, and not just gave such things lip service in the name of power and control.
I was amazed at how honest they were, admitting what they planned to do, and what the rest of their team had done. They all fully expected to be incarcerated now, and admitted being caught had been considered a high probability with the plan. Several of them admitted to carrying weapons against orders, on the basis that their arrest would distract station security enough for the rest of the team to slip through unnoticed.
I looked at Jane at this point. I knew she saw everything, and anything she didn’t see was seen by one of her daughters, or was it sisters, acting as station AIs. I raised an eyebrow at her, and she smiled.
With several of the mages showing their boredom, the interviews ended, and the faces of the detained were displayed.
“Were any of these people lying?” she asked us.
“Not that I could detect,” said Syrinx, who had the rank here. “Bud?”
“Do you have Thorn’s ability to detect lies?” Jane asked me.
“I might have. I’ve known some things said have been lies immediately they were said, but it’s not something I notice all the time.”
“And here?”
“None. They all seemed genuine to me.”
The others nodded, although their nodding did set off my detector. I was pretty sure they didn’t have a clue. Jane dismissed them, and Syrinx left with them.
Fifteen
“So your lie detector hasn’t gone off in recent times?”
I chuckled.
“Just now.”
She laughed.
“Any idea if that comment about lie detection being an oracle trait is true?”
“It didn’t set mine off. I’ve no idea, really. You’d need to talk to some oracles and maybe seers, and see what they say.”
“Thorn wasn’t an oracle though.”
“Not as far as I knew. But he was unique.”
“True. I didn’t think we’d need someone like him, but apparently we do.”
“Like him?”
“Lie detector. Once I start dealing with people beyond my sight, working out if they tell the truth is a lot harder.”
“Everyone has that problem.”
“Which is why Thorn found himself being used that way. Are you sure you don’t want to be a judge like him?”
“Hell no. I’m where I want to be.”
“Good.”
“What will happen to them?”
“We’ll give them their colony.”
“Why?”
“Because their comrades stole the wrong ship.”
I couldn’t help but laugh.
“How does that figure?”
“I had that ship earmarked for
a specific mission as soon as it was completed, and I found a volunteer crew for it.”
“Did you ask for volunteers? Any of us would have leapt at the chance to fly a Rogue.”
“No, I didn’t. And because I knew you’d all jump at the chance, as would pretty well all our active pilots. But we don’t have enough of you yet to spare anyone.”
I gave her a sharp look.
“You knew they were coming?”
“I knew someone was coming. You don’t think we threw those mutineers back without bugging them, did you?”
She was grinning now.
“You expected them to try it?”
“Yes. Or at least a couple of them might form a team from people they knew with the right skills. I made the connection to this group, but didn’t have the access to know their motivations. But when their applications came through to join the Imperium military, I knew who was coming, just not why. Not my problem if they think they can steal an Imperium ship and get away with it. By doing so they volunteered themselves for the mission.”
“What’s the mission? If I’m allowed to ask?”
“You’ve heard of Arthur?”
“Before I arrived here, but I’ve heard a few stories. Jill has mentioned him a few times.”
“He and his people are in trouble somewhere in Trixone space. I received a distress message, but it’s badly damaged. I’m assuming it’s come a long way across multiple coms networks.”
“So you sent the latest prototype dreadnaught on a rescue mission, crewed by people you’re shanghaiing?”
“One of my avatars went with them, and I’m dropping comnavsats everywhere they come out of jump. You’ll see a line of them start to appear, as a freighter I sent after them fills in the gaps. Don’t comment on it to anyone. I’ll be suppressing it from most navmaps until we find out where Arthur is.”
“Why tell me?”
“Because you’re the only one other than the Imperator who can open a rift to wherever Arthur is, and has ships to go through it immediately. I want you aware in case action is needed at an inconvenient time.”
“I’ll keep an eye on it.”
Lieutenant Spacemage (Imperium Spacemage Book 3) Page 7
