Blockade

by Chris Hechtl

  The expression “where angels fear to tread” rang through his mind just as the last ship departed.

  “Good luck and spirits of space keep you,” he murmured.

  -~~~///^\~~~-

  H001

  Bob managed to get to the bridge before his Neogorilla skipper, but only because she shoved him through the hatch as they both arrived at it. He managed to fly over her seat and then do a tuck and roll on the other side. He didn't even bother to give her a dirty look as he rose to his feet to man the helm station.

  Nightshade was already feeding them data. Captain McArren grunted as she thought of the probability of a replacement. It was about time; they'd been picketing the star system for quite a long time, longer than she'd expected at any rate.

  A flash of an IFF told her it was another prowler. Relieved grins broke out among her bridge watch.

  “Stay sharp people, we don't know how the enemy will react,” she stated.

  “Ma'am, there is an embedded code in the IFF,” Nightshade stated.

  “Ah?”

  “Delta twenty-four Zebra,” the A.I. stated.

  The Neoape nodded. She checked the plot but knew that there wasn’t any enemy near. She'd deliberately stationed her ship well away from the enemy forces in the star system.

  “Nightshade, assemble our log in a compressed packet and get it off to them. Engineering, once the signal is away, we're dropping our stealth and jumping the hell out of here.”

  “Aye aye, ma'am.”

  “We've got a date it seems,” she said with a grin.

  -~~~///^\~~~-

  Captain Trenton noted the enemy arrival and then CIC's frustration as it faded out after giving off a brief tantalizing transmission. They seemed elated a half hour later when an enemy ship appeared on their plot, but that elation died when he recognized they were over thirty-six million kilometers out, deeper in the Kuiper Belt. He shook his head when a second transmission was reported. “Sir, Tango One is about to jump,” CIC reported.

  “I expected as much. Shift change. But let's let the admiral know.”

  “Aye aye, sir.”

  -~~~///^\~~~-

  Admiral Zhen was wary of the enemy ship shift change. It was probably long overdue he thought. The enemy no doubt only had so many prowlers to go around.

  It could still mean something, so he ordered all ships to be at standby one readiness. He ordered fresh recon drones to be cycled from around the expanded jump point zone.

  No doubt they wouldn't be any good. The enemy had proven time and time again that they could jump in well outside a star system's established jump zone. But those eyes were all he could think of at the moment.

  -~~~///^\~~~-

  Lieutenant Commander Gino Hough was a bit nervous as he sat in the hot seat and watched the First Prowler Flotilla under his command arrive in the enemy-controlled star system. What they were doing was a rehearsal for the big show to come. This was their final stage rehearsal before they really faced a discerning audience.

  His prowler UFN-040P was the first in the Poltergeist class. Up until a year ago, he'd been a skipper of a Zephyr class and had expected to go to the front in one. He'd been surprised when he'd been tapped for command of this mission. It was bold in the extreme.

  Which was why he loved it.

  The tip of his long tail flicked. He looked at it and then willed it still. As usual that only worked for a few moments before his attention turned to other things. He was a rarity among Neocats, an Eyra, also known as a Jaguarundi. He had a grayish black coat with a foxy red head and spine. He was smaller than the big cats, which was why he was more stealth oriented. His clan had survived for generations on Nightingale. When the Federation had come to his world, he'd eagerly signed up and hadn't looked back.

  He had twenty-four ships including UFN-039P that had jumped in earlier. Twenty of them like UFN-039P were of the Zephyr class. He was sorely tempted to unleash them to practice their hacking skills but held to the mission.

  -~~~///^\~~~-

  Admiral Zhen stared at the plot for a long moment. The enemy ships, they had to be enemy, had come in to the star system in a three-dimensional arc around the perimeter of the star system well away from the H001 jump point.

  So much for the Feds having a limited supply of the damn things he thought in disgust.

  Which had made his ships useless to intercept them. “I don't like it,” he said, tucking his hands behind his back as he listened to the various ship captains.

  There was no way he was going to divide his force to go after those individuals. Some were well over twenty million kilometers out, and they hadn't gotten a good read on their arrival. CIC kept insisting none were larger than a destroyer, but he couldn't bet a ship or even a division on that.

  Which meant he wasn't the only one who didn't like what he was seeing. All of the captains appeared nervous. More than one had asked about when they were going to fall back.

  “When the enemy does something we don't like or understand, you have every right to not like it and feel nervous, sir. They are up to something. That spells trouble with a capital 'T' for us,” Captain Trenton stated with a shake of his head.

  “Yes, but what does it mean?”

  “In Garth they sent prowlers in on a regular basis. A lot of it was to keep an eye on us obviously. They also kept us jumping and off balance,” Captain Bradley stated slowly. He wasn't the only one that was having issues reacting to the enemy force. Everyone knew it meant they were going to have to fall back eventually. Knowing what was behind them versus what was coming was a problem for them.

  And with Zhen watching over them there was no way they could safely surrender as some had thrown out there. Not without their own side shooting them in the back anyway.

  “There sure are a lot of them,” Captain Trenton murmured. “We've counted over twenty so far.”

  “Are they all prowlers?” Admiral Zhen asked. “Could they be cruisers running under stealth? Their stealth is better than our own,” he said, clearly unhappy with that admission.

  “It's certainly possible, sir,” Captain Trenton acknowledged.

  -~~~///^\~~~-

  Captain Hough watched with slitted eyes as the enemy ships continued to fall back from H001 jump point. They weren't stupid. He would have appreciated their getting a nice mauling while he watched, but apparently the enemy commander was no fool.

  Pity about that. He flicked his ears in his species form of a shrug and then dispatched a prowler to activate the next phase.

  -~~~///^\~~~-

  Captain Bradley shook his head when he noted the enemy ship's departure. “Well, there you go,” he said in disgust.

  “Sir, could it be a bluff? All these ships to scare us off?” his XO asked.

  He just shook his head. “It might be, but I doubt it. I seriously do.” He glanced sourly at the local plot. The flagship was keeping all of the ships, especially the Retribution Fleet survivors tight together. That meant they were on a short leash and there was no way he could finagle a way to get away.

  -~~~///^\~~~-

  Seven hours after the prowler left a large hyper footprint announced the arrival of TF 2.3 in the star system. Trajan had arranged their arrival in three groups with his screen out front just in case the enemy had changed course in the seven hours since the prowler had called him.

  When their hyper wake cleared, he realized he hadn't had to worry apparently though; the enemy had continued falling back. Given the weight in metal he was bringing with him, he couldn't blame the enemy commander. Nor could he blame him for adding more speed.

  “As soon as we're clear, go to Charlie Six,” he stated. “I want them to get a good look at us as they run with their tails between their legs,” he said.

  “Charlie Six, aye aye, sir.”

  -~~~///^\~~~-

  Shino noted the arrival and was grateful he'd had the foresight to fall back. Not that the enemy hadn't given him enough of a warning and lead tim
e. He still wondered about that.

  Even though he had departed the jump point zone, he hadn't left it unattended. He had left a dozen recon drones and buoys to watch over the space. The robotic minions probed the enemy force as they cleared their hyper wake and reported back to them. They continued to send in reports even as the enemy tried to hack them and then eventually attacked them with their fighters and screen.

  During those five hours, he came to realize that based on the reports, the force was one made up of carriers. There were no new ships, which was odd. There were also no other ships other than the single carrier task force seen in Garth. Where was the rest of Second Fleet? He had to wonder where the rest were. They couldn't have sent out their best force ahead instead of a screen, right? So what gives? Something stank to high heaven.

  He turned and ordered his command to make a run for Horath jump point just as CIC reported the enemy ships were doing so as well.

  He was pretty sure someone back home was hoping Second Fleet would jump in to Garth and get torn to shreds. Seeing what he was seeing he had his doubts. Something else was going on; something he was missing.

  Still, he had his orders. “Dump our logs and files to the courier and order her to run. Let them know we're falling back and expect to lose this star system as well. If I can picket it, I'll do so, but I do not expect to be able to hold with the disparity in force size,” he stated flatly.

  His chief of staff nodded once. They both knew what he was saying could lead to a death sentence for him or quite possibly every member of his staff as well as every ship captain—not that he had any choice.

  “Make sure you screen everything you send; I don't want a virus getting thrown into the mix. And make sure we've got clean tactical records going out. They need to see what we're up against here,” he stated as he began to pace.

  “Aye aye, sir.”

  -~~~///^\~~~-

  Once Captain Sito got the news and logs, he didn't wait for a confirmation. His ship had been ready to jump the moment the enemy force had arrived in a large flotilla. In fact, he'd been ready to go when the first prowler had arrived. He ordered his helm team to jump, not even bothering to transmit an acknowledgment or any show of good luck.

  His helmsman was all too eager to get into hyper. Perhaps too eager, she missed a grav string and the little ship was torn apart as she translated through the octaves.

  -~~~///^\~~~-

  Four days after the enemy flotilla's arrival, Admiral Zhen's picket force managed to make it to the jump point mostly unmolested. That had been a surprise to him. He'd been forced to limit his speed to the slower ships like Captain Bradley's destroyer, but the enemy hadn't gotten a shipping strike to him.

  Not for want of trying though. Three times they'd appeared on his long-range plot. Each time he'd ordered rail gun rounds to be fired into their path and an abrupt course and speed change to throw them off. Each time they'd tried to get into range but then had fallen back, no doubt running low on fuel.

  Now was the most nervous time, when his ships were forced to slow in order to jump safely into hyper. Their hyper capacitors were almost fully charged, so it didn't take long for the ships to spin up their hyperdrives.

  “Captain, some of the picket are slow on the jump,” his chief of staff stated.

  The rear admiral's eyes narrowed. He'd been afraid of that. He was tempted to let them stay as they seemed to intend to do. But those ships were warships of the empire; they and their crews were needed for her defense.

  “Order the other ships to jump first. We'll jump last,” he said crisply.

  -~~~///^\~~~-

  Captain Trenton snorted softly as one by one the other ships reluctantly departed. Admiral Zhen's order had made it clear they had no choice. They could drop back out of hyper, but he highly doubted that would happen.

  One way or another he and the other ships’ captains were going to have to face the ire of the emperor.

  -~~~///^\~~~-

  Once the star system was clear of enemy forces, a courier was dispatched into hyperspace. UNF-008P joined them in leaving for Garth. The prowler's crew was due for some liberty in Garth; he'd only kept them with his task force to get the full download from them.

  Six hours later the first convoy of twenty-four Liberty class ships arrived and began to lumber across the star system with their ponderous loads.

  Trajan nodded as he watched the ships coming. He would set up shop at a strategic point in the star system, but he couldn't be directly on top of the jump point. He couldn't allow his command to be trapped into an engagement. You didn't do that with carriers, not if you could help it.

  No, his command would stand off and watch the unarmed freighters deploy their cargo and then run for Garth for the next load. He wouldn't feel confident about the plan until they'd made at least three, possibly four trips. Only then would they change to bringing forward Mulberry fort sections. Once the first fortresses were complete, he'd start to feel safe.

  He doubted they'd get that far though.

  The stage wasn't quite set; it wouldn't be for some time. But they had time. How much was very much in doubt however. It was now a race between those lumbering ships and the enemy's response. All with his command thrown in the mix. He hated the role he had to play but fully understood it.

  He snorted to himself. He was pretty sure that in no time in history did any officer of any species ever enjoy the role he was playing. Not one bit.

  Given what normally happened to them, no one liked being the bait.

  Chapter 44

  Antigua

  The Admiralty received an updated report from Nuevo Madrid. They took a moment to go over it thoroughly.

  "The ships are still cleaning things up. Fortunately, the enemy cruiser was destroyed well outside the inner star system, so it's not a hazard to navigation. However, there are other issues," Admiral Pashenkov stated.

  "How did they get to Nuevo Madrid? Isn't that impossible?" Admiral Hill asked.

  "No," Admiral Pashenkov stated with a shake of his head. "All manner of species were doing blind jumps for ages. And a jump of this distance isn't too bad if you take it carefully," he stated.

  Admiral Subert cleared his throat. All eyes turned to him. "My people believe that they had water dwellers on board. The timing is a major clue to that. It is the only way they could have made it that cleanly," he explained. A few heads nodded around the table.

  "They had to be desperate to pull this stunt," Admiral Champion murmured.

  "The last shots the ship fired were fired at the infrastructure in orbit as well as air bursts containing the plagues. Apparently, a last act of spite," Admiral Pashenkov stated with a look to Admiral Heals Quickly.

  "Damn," Admiral Hill murmured. "How bad?"

  "Bad is a relative term. For the surviving population of Neos and other species, not good at all. Doctor Kraft had ordered a mass inoculation program and the people on the ground were doing their best to get it done. The surviving population is incredibly small."

  "Our people?" Admiral Hill asked.

  "Our people are all good. Everyone was inoculated as SOP when they entered the military," Admiral Heals Quickly stated. "We are considering taking a page from Commodore Richards and going to a full active immune system," the T'clock stated.

  "Fully active immune system?" Admiral Hill asked, wrinkling her nose in confusion.

  "An artificial one. Full nanotech immune system, also for healing," Admiral Subert explained. When the woman looked ready to freak, he snorted. "You have it in you already."

  That made her eyes go even wider. She looked from him to the others in confusion.

  "It's standard in all flag officer implants," Admiral Irons rumbled. "The active immune system also protects you against Xeno intrusion, counter intrusion by other means, torture, poison, and dozens of other things."

  She pursed her lips but didn't look happy.

  "The Marines and army are considering going that route," Admira
l Heals Quickly stated. "Having the nanites are trickier than inoculations, but you don't need boosters, just updates to threat profiles. The healing factor is nothing to sneeze at," he stated, bobbing his antenna.

  Admiral Irons nodded. He knew what the T'clock was referring to; the nanotech was one step below cadre level in many ways. It required a much more advanced implant package though which was why he wasn't sure about mass distribution.

  It would be nice to have the best hardware in his people though. And if they got over their fear of nanotech, all the better.

  "We're a bit off track," Admiral Pashenkov stated. "The water dweller idea is still a hypothesis until we have solid information to back it. Given the numbers that were known to be taken from ET, it's questionable."

  "But it explains why there was only the one ship," Admiral Subert retorted. "And it explains the ship's speed in hyperspace. We have a read from the prowler as well as the picket in Nuevo Madrid. The timeline doesn't support a normal helm team."

  "Unaugmented no. Augmented …?" Admiral Pashenkov shrugged.

  "We're splitting hairs here," Admiral Champion pointed out. "Over dead people. Why does it matter?"

  "We want to know how many more water dwellers they have. I'd like to know how many more cruisers they can use to try a stunt like this again. Is this the only one?" Admiral Irons stated, drumming his fingers on the table edge.

  "And we have no way of knowing that base number since we don't know how many they picked up elsewhere," Admiral Champion stated. "They could have dozens, potentially hundreds in stasis from all over. What we saw taken from ET might be just the latest unfortunate batch."

  Admiral Irons grimaced but nodded, conceding her point.

  "We're looking into that," Admiral Subert stated. She turned to look at him. "And I can tell you that we've gone through our databases. They've been on this galactic scavenger hunt for ages. But trying to roundup water dwellers is a recent addition. But you are correct, our Ssilli colleague is just one example of their desire to pick up and use water dwellers."