by S. H. Jucha
“I will see that it’s done,” the mandator replied.
“Your beneficence is of the Light,” Scarlet Mandator radiated, and the bloom tilted down.
Scarlet Mandator indicated the doorway with a stalk and led the SADEs back to the control room, pausing in the open doorway to request Mist Monitor follow.
In the corridor, Mist Monitor’s bloom swung up and down the corridor.
Killian linked with Cordelia and requested Renée’s attention.
The group came to a halt when Renée’s image, carried in ultrasonic frequencies, appeared in the holo-vid, and Mist Monitor’s stalks froze in midstride.
“Renée de Guirnon, I remember our meeting, as if the Light had shone brightly on me,” the monitor radiated. “Will you be visiting the World of Light?”
“I will wish for it,” the monitor replied, the petals gently shuddering.
Killian closed the link, and the group proceeded to an ancillary and smaller control room.
“Mist Monitor, share with our guests any information beamed from our warships at the mining sites,” Scarlet Mandator requested.
The monitor accessed the Mesa Control data records, readied them on a panel, and then retreated. As expected, the SADE held the holo-vid and did as Julien had done. The oddly colored and marked SADE bent over the panel, staring directly at it. Then the SADE controlled the rate of play, making an entire cycle of a ship’s recording pass in moments.
Soon the SADE completed the recording, and Mist Monitor accessed a second warship’s imagery. Within a relatively short period of time, the entire span of events as recorded from multiple warships was passed from Mesa Control databases to the SADE.
“Thank you, Mist Monitor,” Killian said.
The Ollassa returned to the control center, and the SADEs followed. After entering the room, the SADEs sought discreet positions against a wall, locked their avatars, and waited for instructions.
3: Enticement
“Scarlet Mandator wasn’t exaggerating,” Tatia grumped. She and others were viewing the Ollassa data that Killian had collected and transferred.
Alex ran several implant applications on the blurs that the Ollassa warships recorded.
“Don’t bother, Alex,” Cordelia said. “The data isn’t there. Ollassa imagery has poor resolution.”
“Well, if our expert image manipulator can’t further resolve these images, what can we infer from them?” Franz asked.
“Time and peak velocity for one thing,” Julien said. “If the host ship remains in the same position, as when the attack on the Ollassa warships occurred, then the fighters exhibited tremendous acceleration and maneuverability.”
“The data indicates that the Ollassa warships trained their armament on where they anticipated the fighters might move,” Reiko pointed out. “Still, they failed to strike a single attacker.”
“What if the problem with the data isn’t resolution?” Alex asked, settling into a command chair.
Renée stepped behind him and attempted to ease any tight muscles in Alex’s neck and shoulders. She knew it was a futile effort. However, she also knew that Alex appreciated her attempts, and this was a good time to put him at ease and allow his imagination to work.
“You’re suggesting the fighters might appear as blurs to our telemetry,” Julien mused.
“It’s a possibility,” Alex replied. “If they do, what would that tell us about their makeup?”
“That energy is focused through their hulls to drive them and supply their weapons,” Z replied. “They could pull energy from reserve banks, or they might have an abundant supply from an exotic source, such as an antimatter engine.”
“If the fighters’ energy source is fixed, this could be a weakness,” Miranda offered. “We could entice them to expend their energy, while chasing us.”
“That’s providing that we aren’t killed while we’re trying to do that,” Franz remarked.
“The possibilities favor the invaders’ fighters against our travelers,” Z said. “Our only chance would be to engage them around an ice or gas giant, with a significant number of moons. That would give us the advantage of numbers.”
“The Tridents could form defensive rings,” Reiko suggested. “Forget chasing the fighters. Let them come at us.”
“But we don’t know anything about a fighter’s weapon,” Renée complained. “What’s the maximum range? How many charges can it expend if the ship has a limited energy supply?”
“Then we need to find out,” Franz supplied.
The thought in Reiko’s mind was an urgent No! She’d muted her implant comm to prevent connecting and sharing the thought with Franz. She knew he’d be in that traveler, and from the looks on everyone’s faces, they knew it too.
“What would be the test?” Alex mused. He placed his hands on top of Renée’s and played with her fingers, while he thought. We want to discover, entice, but not provoke a fight.
“There is much to discover,” Julien suggested. “I would consider a layered approach.”
“Curiosity is a powerful force,” Miranda offered. “If I wanted to entice a response, I’d make the entities curious. Start by approaching a mining site that’s hidden from the host ship’s view. Let’s discover if the machines communicate to the ship, which I’m sure they do. Then let’s find out how swiftly the host ship responds.”
“Don’t fire on the machines,” Cordelia added. “Be passive. Hold station above the mining operation. Observe the activities, while the invader’s fighter investigates.”
Franz’s eyes widened at Cordelia’s suggestion, and he glanced toward Alex to see how receptive he was to her approach.
Alex chuckled. “Scary idea, isn’t it?” he asked, as he eyed Franz.
“It wasn’t what I had in mind,” Franz replied.
“We could use a drone,” Renée offered.
“This might be a good time to employ one,” Franz said, with visible relief.
Alex regarded Tatia, who had been silent.
“Don’t look at me,” Tatia protested. “These are first contact steps. Ask my opinion what we should do if we think fighters might flood out of the host ship.”
“Julien,” Alex said, and the holo-vid lit.
“This mining site is opportune,” Julien said, displaying the telemetry captured by Beryl’s scout. “It’s hidden from the host ship’s direct line of sight.”
“How about the approach?” Franz asked, and eyes turned toward Alex.
“Roundabout,” Alex replied. “Drop a Trident far below the ecliptic. Use velocity to launch a traveler and then retreat.”
“What should be my response if our drone survives inspection by the invader’s fighter?” Franz inquired.
“Head inward,” Alex replied. “Make for the World of Light.”
Tatia tasked Rear Admiral Deirdre Canaan’s command with the Trident action. Deirdre delegated the order, and a captain directed a pilot to launch a traveler. The pilot landed aboard the Freedom, exited the traveler, boarded a drone, and flew it to the Trident that he’d left.
Then the Trident exited the fleet and made several short transits to approach the Ollassa system from below the ecliptic.
Franz sent.
Franz grinned and turned toward Miranda, who stood with Z near the rear of the bridge, where their huge Cedric and Frederica avatars had more room.
“Miranda, would you be so kind as to fly the drone?” Franz asked charmingly, which caused many of the humans to grin or chuckle.
“I thought you’d never ask, dear man,” Miranda replied. She didn’t need to make a connection to the drone. That had been established before the drone left the Freedom. Every SADE rode the bridge link to the drone.
The Trident finished its final transit. A crew chief readied the drone’s launch. When the bay doors opened, Miranda launched the autopiloted traveler. Imparted with the Trident’s velocity, the craft flew toward the intended mining site.
Then Miranda made the first change in the plan. As the traveler neared the belt, she sought out a mining site that the host ship could directly observe. The drone briefly poised above the machines and then flew to another site.
Alex glanced toward Miranda. He wasn’t the only human who wondered what Miranda was doing.
After observations above two more sites, Miranda flew the drone to the target site. However, rather than hold station above the large asteroid, she landed the traveler next to the tremendous pile of ancillary machinery.
Alex, who was observing the drone’s telemetry on the holo-vid, which Cordelia maintained, chuckled at the ploy. Miranda had been the perfect choice.
The scouts of Beryl, Linn, and Genoa were positioned to relay telemetry to the city-ship.
In the holo-vid, the fighter was a blur of light that hid much of the ship’s structure. What was discernible was that the ship was a sphere encased in arches that exited the upper pole and entered the lower pole. The fighter’s design imitated that of the host ship.
SADEs recorded every aspect of the fighter’s swift approach to the Omnian drone traveler.
It was anticipated that when the fighter dropped its velocity, the details of the ship would be evident. That didn’t happen. The fighter shot around the asteroid and halted overtop of the traveler. Its acceleration matched that of a traveler, but its maneuverability appeared frighteningly better than the Omnian fighter. Despite holding station, the invader’s fighter was still a blur.
Alex expected Miranda to leave the drone on the asteroid’s surface. Instead, the drone rose slowly, and Miranda pivoted the bow to face the fighter. She halted the drone when the two fighters were a mere fifteen meters apart.
There was a pause, and everyone waited for the invader’s fighter to destroy the drone, but nothing happened.
Miranda slid the drone in a slow circle, keeping the bow pointed at the fighter.
Darius replied.
At the mention of contact being the manner in which the invader’s fighter destroyed a warship, Miranda eased her drone away from the invader’s fighter.
An idea occurred to Miranda, and she sped the drone to another mining site. Arriving at an asteroid that was large enough to be classified as a small moon if it had orbited a planet, she quickly landed the drone on the surface.
The invader’s fighter hovered hundreds of meters above the Omnian drone.
Alex ignored the conversation. Instead, he stared intently at the holo-vid.
Miranda sent.
Miranda lifted the drone until it was clear of the asteroid’s surface. Then the drone held station while Miranda rotated the bow. The drone now pointed directly at the invader’s fighter. Then she launched the drone. In the blink of an eye, the foreign fighter slid aside, and the Omnian drone passed it unharmed.
Miranda sent the drone system inward at max acceleration, and the adversary gave chase.
While the audience waited for the next maneuver, Alex raised an eyebrow at Cordelia.
Julien was able to provide the bridge audience with a view from Linn’s scout. Beryl’s and Genoa’s ships were moving to provide views too.
Miranda sent the drone diving through the planet’s magnetosphere, and the enormous gravitational pull fed the traveler’s energy banks.
The adversary attempted to keep pace with the Omnian ship, but it fell behind. The pursued swept close to the planet, while the pursuer kept its distance from the system’s massive body.
Using the scouts’ telemetry, SADEs calculated the window of opportunity for Miranda.
When none was forthcoming, Miranda halted the drone’s orbit of the planet in the center of the window selected by the SADEs. Then she slowly elevated the ship away from the planet’s surface.
The Freedom’s bridge audience watched the drone rise aft first and with a slow waggling motion.
Alex swiveled to eye Z, who responded privately with,
A single eyebrow of Z had twitched in confusion, which made Alex smile.
The adversarial fighter came around the horizon, and Miranda continued the drone’s antics.
When the fighter reached a position directly over the Omnian drone, it halted and waited.
Miranda directed the drone to bypass the fighter within the beam weapon’s envelope. As the traveler’s stern slid past the invader’s fighter, she angled the drone’s bow toward the fighter. Then she triggered the beam.
A bright light filled the holo-vid. When it dissipated, both ships were gone.
The SADEs reviewed the scouts’ telemetry.
