by T J Bryan
"Mr Brunner, do you have any energy emissions to report."
Buddy replied, "Some vary faint emissions from the area of the beacon, but nothing strong enough to classify. We need to get closer."
"Pilot Karrlson," Silvi asked, "How long until that Unity hulk approaches the beacon we have spotted?"
Lennie did some quick calculations. "About 13 hours, assuming it doesn't hit anything. But if it has been circling Wu for this long it probably has a relatively clear orbit. Can't be certain but we can watch."
Silvi thought a long moment. "Can we hide in the shadow of that hulk while it approaches the beacon. So no one will see us approach?"
"Yeah, easy." replied Lennie. "How close do you want to get?"
"Close enough that whoever has that beacon operating wont see us until we are on top of them."
"Well the way it tumbles, we should stay away by at least 1,000 meters. That's fully in the shadow of the thing. Any further out and we might be seen, but then only by really good scanning gear."
"All right Pilot Karrlson, put us behind that wreck and let's coast in."
Six hours later the planet of Wu and its' orbital infrastructure remains became clear on both the vid screens and in Buddy's scans. Two clusters of orbital debris circled the planet about 110 degrees apart of the orbital plane. Another much smaller cluster of debris circled much closer to planet fall a further 90 degrees away.
"Mr. Brunner?" called Silvi knowing well what the debris field were, "What do you make of those orbital clusters of debris?"
"Looks like the remains of orbital stations. Really big ones. Two of those junked stations seem to be retaining their orbit, but one, the smaller one is descending into the atmosphere of Wu. Probably has bits falling on the surface all the time. Give it another hundred years and it will be swept clean by Wu's gravity well."
"And the beacon, what does the scan show of the beacon?"
Buddy returned his attention to his station. "Give me a moment Captain."
As Buddy worked Silvi simply stated at the vid screen. The entire system of Wu was filled with battlefield litter: wrecked ships, torn stations, and undoubtedly human bodies. She turned her attention to the Unity ship they had chosen to ghost. "Mr. Brunner can you give me a closer look at that hulk we are shadowing?"
"Sure Captain, one moment."
Second later the vid screen flashed a close up of what must have been one of Unity's dreadnaughts. What was left of the ship was a rather beautiful sight. She was covered in gold and silver with massive artwork, if one could call it that, covering its' plating. Fixtures, meaningless appurtenances, and even statuary covered the remains of the ship. But the one thing that struck Silvi the most was how thin the hull appeared to be. The ship was too thin to sustain an attack, she had been built to assuage an ego, and as such she and her crew probably died from a single hit littering Wu with debris and the thousands who died in a ship of folly.
Nomi shouted, "I have a fleet plot. No Carm, it's Zeno. Zeno in the way. Go New Carthago."
Silvi recalled Nomi's summary of the Wu system and its' description of the wandering planet Zeno. Clearly if Nomi said the portal to Carm was not suitable for transit, it was because the enormous gravity well of Zeno had closed off the portal. Perhaps in a few months the portal might become clear, but for now transit for Ragnarök and her GWP systems was not possible.
"I'm getting an energy reading from that beacon," Buddy said in a voice louder that that needed in the silent coasting Ragnarök. "I have dozens of small energy sources. All fission engines. As we get closer I can more clearly define them. They seem to be clustered on something of significant mass. But I can't tell what it is."
"Could it be an orbital station?" Silvi asked.
"Clearly is large and orbital. But its' shape is odd for a typical station. More like a big lump with thin spiral arms. Kinda like a station, but really different."
"Could it be alien in origin?"
"I don't think so. It's too conventional in those old fashioned fission engines powering that thing. But it is clearly a station of some kind."
Silvi thought a moment. "Home build? By survivors? From debris?"
Buddy thought a long moment as he focused on his vid screen and instruments. "Could be, but the core of that thing is too solid to be made from junk. If I were to guess I'd say it was some kind of stationary weapons station onto which any survivors tacked bits and pieces of the old stations. Some kind of survival habitat."
Silvi did not respond.
Nomi said in her small voice, "Sigrún entered. Transmitting plots."
As Silvi stood the bridge she considered her options. Those options were made simpler by the interference of Zeno on the Carm portal. Should they delay further and seek information from whatever survived in Wu or press on to New Carthago?
"Mr. Brunner, inform Sigrún and the remainder of the fleet that they are to hold here in system and to hide among the debris until we make contact with whoever my still be alive here in Wu. Make sure we get a confirmation from each ship."
"Aye, aye, Sir."
An hour later they had drifted closer to the orbital mass and Buddy managed to provide a detailed description of the energy sources, mass, and general structural architecture of the mass. However as Silvi looked at the vid screen she saw what was clearly a salvaged orbital station. Central to the station and forming its' hub was a massive orbital monitor bristling with weapons emplacements. Attached to that solid mass was a patchwork of bits and pieces of recovered space stations. The whole thing reminded Silvi of a haphazard quilt made up of random bits and pieces of floating debris.
"Mr. Brunner, what does your refined scan tell us?"
"I have multiple fission engine signatures, at least thirty five. Most are small. I have one weak anti-matter signature from a ship. Twelve of the fission engines are running hot and they are on that big monitor. Id' hate to have to service them. In fact getting anywhere near those old things is a death sentence. But they seem to be powering the entire structure."
"And the others, especially the anti-matter source?"
"We have 23 energy signatures that look like starships. But most are cold or nearly cold. They look spent. A few are warm and two are hot enough to fly. The anti-matter engined ship appears to be buoyed outside and away from the actual station, while the other ships seem to be docked along those spiral arms."
"Do you think any of those ships have sufficient energy to fly Mr. Brunner?"
"I can't be sure, but the cold ships look dead. If they could be powered up it would take days to get them started. Most are leaking radiation which indicates some kind of very dangerous failure. I think the bulk of those ships are dead. Two might fly, and I am not sure about the anti-matter powered ship. For that ship it depends on how much fuel they have and without actually boarding it I cannot tell. "
Silvi asked the question foremost in her mind, "Mr. Brunner are any of them warships?"
Buddy responded, "I don't think so. Warships differ from say freighters in that they are very massive with all that shielding and plating, further their energy signatures are enormous compared to commercial ships. Now it is always possible to put a torpedo tube on a freighter, but that does not make it a warship. It's possible some might be those revenue cutters Helen described, but those are not really warships either. They have a sting, but compared to a SAR it's an annoyance at worst and target practice at best."
Silvi calculated the time they had spent within the Wu system. Every hour counted but she had decided to take more time before approaching whoever occupied the Wu station. The weapons emplacement of the station shouted caution to Silvi and a warship suddenly appearing in their system might not be taken as a peaceful gesture."
"Mr. Karrlson, how long before we orbit Wu and are occluded by the planet so that that station cannot see us."
"About two hours. We are now pulling away from our closest point to the station and bound for the far side of Wu. They won't see us in two hours."
"Mr. Karrlson, when they can no longer see us please set a direct course to the fleet. I intend to have a conference with the captains. Just make sure that station sees neither us nor the fleet."
"Aye, aye, Sir."
Chapter Forty Two
Wu System - Iceland - Year 3246. February 15 ET: 02:43
As Helen filled her coffee cup a second time, three laughing children no more than eight years old raced laughing and shouting down the passageway fronting the supercargo mess where OM Marx sat listening to Silvi on vid describe what she was calling Wu Station. Emmitt was present but on the vid from Greenland. Helen thought there was something comforting in the sound of children laughing and running, but at the same time that laughter within the confines of a warship, and the Iceland was a warship, was disturbing.
Helen said, "I'll call one of the moms and get those kids back to the SAR's quarters." She looked at the ships clock on the bulkhead. "It's about time for the afternoon school session and they really should be on the 'F' deck."
Silvi laughed. "Who would have imagined a bunch of teenage girls learning to fly a SAR and their siblings and moms loose on a warship. I wonder what our founders would think of all this."
Silvi now took a look at the wall clock on Ragnarök as well. "Ok, I have a plan for visiting Wu station but I need your input and agreement."
The captains nodded in agreement. As usual Emmitt closed his eyes to concentrate of Silvi narrative.
"I do not want to approach Wu station in an obvious warship. I think that the Iceland is the best way to approach the station." Silvi paused, "Helen how obvious is it that Iceland as an armed freighter?"
Helen thought a moment. "Well that depends on the quality of the scan from Wu. With our rather unusual array of fusion engines, and our rather out of the ordinary mass anyone familiar with armed freighters would spot us in a moment. We are rather large after all. But to see our weapons would require excellent optics and we would need to be near to the station before they became aware of our bite."
Silvi asked, "Can we reduce our signature with Iceland. To make Wu station think we are just a freighter, perhaps a large one, but still rather defenceless and no threat to them?"
"Sure," Helen replied. "We can shut down two thirds of our fusion engines and run rather cold into the Wu system. If hailed about our massive signature we can reply that we carry steel plate, heavy metals, and fission products. That might account for the mass if they don't look too close. As for the weapons bays on port and starboard we might angle the ship so they are perpendicular to our approach and that might make spotting them difficult. The key will be not to get too close."
Silvi took a long drink of her now tepid coffee. "Here is what I propose. Iceland masks herself as a wandering freighter looking for trade goods and willing to barter. A kind of 'Flying Dutchman,' a homeless tramp freighter, with things to trade that Wu station might want and need. Clearly if Buddy is right they could use some fission products for their leaky engines."
"Who do we tell them we are?" asked OM Marx.
"Well lets just say were survivors of some distant system and we cannot return. It's dead or something like that. But we must never reveal our origin in Jamon. If something goes wrong I don't want someone showing up on our doorstep wanting retribution."
"So we present a tramp steamer image to Wu?" Asked Helen.
"Yes, and we cannot take a chance that we will scare Wu station into hostile action. So we don't dock at the station. Instead we hang out just beyond the range of good optics. There we hail the station and inform them we seek trade. If they offer docking tell them no. This is unknown space and docking is not a good idea. Offer to visit the station in one of those runabouts we brought with us. Those things are so amateurish in build that it will be obvious we are not a warship."
"May I suggest an additional ruse Captain Karrlson?" asked OM Marx.
"Go ahead."
"Well, I think we should also display some weakness. I would suggest when they ask for details of our ship that we describe it as a family enterprise. Family run freighters were common before the Great War and probably still exist in the far reaches of the void. Further I suggest we let them know we are a small family of survivors. This should put them at ease. Although they might fear a ship full of hostile armed boarders streaming onto their docks if we dock, I doubt they will fear a family of say six, positioned well away from their docks."
"And arriving in makeshift runabouts from the Singleton race," added Helen.
"I like that idea Captain Marx." Silvi replied. "And let me make a further suggestion. Captain Marx I suggest that you lead a small contingent of the Iceland to the docking station at Wu. Say you and someone young and non threatening like Farn Mayer."
"I'd be happy to go, but why me Silvi?" asked Captain Marx.
"Well Captain Marx, I know you are an able pilot and an excellent captain, but frankly you look your age."
OM Marx laughed. "True. So I'll look too old to be a threat, and Farn will look too young?"
"That's about it. Although I would hate to be in a fight with either you or Farn."
Silvi walked to the food station, discarded her cold coffee and refilled her cup, "Now as to the rest of Iceland. I want our six marines on Greenland transferred to Iceland for this visit. I want Iceland's weapons manned and at the first sign of trouble we power up her cold engines and prepare to fly. Now to the hard part. Under no circumstances, if Captain Marx or Farn Mayer come to harm, or are taken prisoner, will we negotiate their return. We may seem to negotiate to buy time but our response must be swift and deadly. I do not want to anticipate trouble, but The Dark is not a safe place, and Wu station must remain within The Dark until we know better. Agreed?"
"Agreed," responded OM Marx. Emmitt nodded this head in agreement. Helen replied, "Yes."
Emmitt asked, "Should the away team have weapons, like plasma pistolas? And what about communications. Do they take vid-comms?"
"Let me reply," said Captain Marx. "If I ran a station out in The Dark I would never let a stranger onto my station with a weapon. As for communications, I think it would look odd if visitors arrived without some form of communication back to their ship. But if we could rig some other form of monitoring our conversations and whereabouts other than the vid-comms that would be good. If there is trouble I'm certain they would take away our comms. I would if I were in their place and felt threatened by unknown visitors."
Helen added, "I think our Marine contingent has some kind of trackers. I'll ask Wain, but if I remember correctly they are tiny and given the distance from the station to the Iceland there should be no problem receiving a transmission."
"Good," said Silvi. "Are we agreed?"
All three said "Yes."
...
Wu System - Iceland Approaching Wu Station - Year 3246. January 15 E: 19:55
Helen stood on the bridge of OCN Iceland not looking at the vid screen but at her crew. Her two pilots, Sam Olderhausr, and Wilfred Zanos had in recent weeks displayed excellent skills and they had her full confidence. Nieve Vilulf was on weapons and Robbie Oneil on defence. Both were highly rated on the simulator, but Iceland had never been in battle so Helen cautiously approved of their work. Taylor Schmidtt as the fleet's back up astrogator to Nomi and Dill was another matter. While clearly skilled in astrogation and almost as skilled as the Ketills there was something amiss about Taylor. He would plot an astrogation course, set it in, and when about to execute the plot, claim he could do better. Then he would ask for time to re-plot the course and repeat the process over and over. While his initial plot was more than sufficient, he kept seeking perfection, and as all knew, perfection was the enemy of good. And good enough in The Dark was simply good enough.
"Mr. Oneil," Helen pronounced in her best Captain speak, "You may ping Wu station and ask permission to approach. Please use the prepared script we agreed to."
Robbie toggled his comms unit, "Ahoy Wu Station. This is the Free Trader Iceland. We
come seeking trade and barter. Our goods include steel plate, fission products, heavy metals, and a wide variety of goods from many distant systems including spices, agricultural feed stocks, and fabricators of many descriptions. We come to trade in peace."
"Very good Mr. Oneil. Let us wait a few minutes and then repeat the message. Oh by the way the tremulous quiver to your voice was excellent. Just the right amount of trepidation." Helen smiled and sat in her captain's chair.
A few minutes later, as Helen was about to ask Robbie to rebroadcast the message, Wu Station responded. "Welcome Free Trader Iceland. Welcome to Wu station." The voice sounded nasal, thin, and with an unusual accent. But Helen realized that Standard English would surely have drifted since the end of the Great War. Wu station continued "You are welcome to the Wu Free Trade Station, but please remain 100 kilometres from the station prior to inspection. Also have prepared a full manifest of your trade goods so that we may negotiate fair terms of exchange."
Helen was startled by the term 'inspection.' They could never hide Iceland's true intent if someone even approached the ship or attempted inspection.
Robbie replied using an optional portion of their script. "Wu station, we will provide a manifest of trade goods, however we are a small family enterprise and cannot allow anyone on board who we do not fully know. I am sure you will understand, but no boarders are permitted. Our trade goods are very valuable and rare. We cannot permit anyone on board."
Robbie closed the comms toggle. "If they are greedy that should do the trick."
A full ten minutes passed before Wu Station replied. "Yes, send us a trade goods manifest and place yourselves no closer than 100 kilometres from the station."
Helen noted that they no longer used the word 'inspection.' Perhaps they wanted to know what the Iceland had to trade before deciding their next action. Helen and Emmitt had prepared a false manifest of trade goods, and after seeing Wu Station had modified the list to emphasize items that might well be in short supply and therefore critical to Wu. These included fission products needed to power their obviously aged power systems. To make the list even more attractive they listed several different types of new build fission engines as well. Iceland did not carry any fission devices since the designs had been obsolete for four hundred years. The one benefit of fission engines is that they were easy to build even if obsolete. Iceland did carry however fusion engines for trade. If needed Helen felt confident they could bait and switch as needed.
