by T J Bryan
Eirik added, "I suspect they know we have more resources in system than they can see. All that work done by Greenland must have left some clue that we were up to something. They seem overly cautious for some reason. But I agree with Francine, I think they want us to come after them where they stand."
"Well in that case," replied Ana, "I am happy that they sit out there until hell freezes over. And I have no intent in tickling that big mouth to discover his bad breath."
After six more days the Megra fleet had not appreciably moved in toward the two planets of the system. Nor had they moved closer to the exit portal leading to Girots. They did however seem to fine tune their disposition. The 39 dumbbells assumed a circular but shallow formation like a dinner plate standing on end and at the center was the Great Maw of Eating Dragon or as Ana called it the 'big mouth.'
Every few hours Ana would call for a full scan of the big mouth and the scan revealed it had a mass to power ratio of about one third of a regular dumbbell. Two things occurred to Ana. First the big mouth was slow, and second, if it had energy weapons, the cycle time would be extraordinarily slow. The big mouth could however have an enormous capacitor bank within the huge ship, and if all she needed was one charge of enormous power that might be all she needed to power some new plasma gun. However energy weapons had diminishing effectiveness with range so even if a powerful new energy weapon had been developed Ana could not imagine the range being more than 100 or 200 kilometres. The old Greayson dreadnoughts with their numerous engines and large capacitor banks could make only about 90 kilometres. Whatever new weapon big mouth might have would not require ship speed and rapid manoeuvring. She did however notice something odd. While the dumbbells themselves were in tight alignment across their flattened disk formation, the big mouth actually stood two kilometres in front of the disk. This made her a tempting target, but it also made Ana wary. Something about its slightly forward location spoke of a new weapon.
The seventh and eight day passed. Eventually Ana thought Abel would receive news of the threat at Cranmore and send more ships. Perhaps, thought Ana, that was the cause of the delay. If Megra had some new weapon they might simply be waiting for additional OCN ships to arrive before initiating an overwhelming attack. Quite clever Ana thought, but only if it were true.
As the ninth day closed, and still the Megra had not moved Ana decided to mix it up a bit. She ordered Brynhildr to make an apparent run to the Girots exit while venting some plasma. The Megra must know they had earlier damaged Brynhildr and if she was seeking the Girots portal at reduced speed and venting they might well assume she was a sitting duck. Ana paused a moment to wonder what a duck might be. This was to be a faint and Ragnarök would remain hidden at Prince while Hilda held her position. If the Megra did not move then Brynhildr would return to their previous posts and simply resume the sitting game.
The run to Girots exit would normally be about 7 hours but as Brynhildr vented plasma from her engine nacelle she proceeded at a pace that would take her almost 20 hours. More than enough time for the slow dumbbells to catch up. As a further inducement Brynhildr would, well before the exit, shut down three of her four engines and crawl to the exit. As Brynhildr began to move five of the dumbbells departed from their formation and headed to the exit and Brynhildr. The remainder simply stayed in place.
Ah, thought Ana, the Megra don't want anyone leaving Cranmore to warn others of so large a presence including the big mouth. And Captain Eirik Njall was performing a very good impression of a wounded animal by stuttering one of his engines from time to time.
The five dumbbells which set out for an intercept of Brynhildr took a roundabout path in order to avoid Hilda and the still hidden Ragnarök. Ana wondered had the Megra detected Ragnarök, or had the construction of what was obviously to be a fortress on Prince given them worry. The Megra might well know that the fortress was unfinished or they might well not know. However the construction site of the fortress was still hot and was easily detectable even at a distance. Clearly the Megra would know that something had been built on the moon Prince.
Ana carefully timed the passage of the five dumbbells and noticed they were of the newer more heavily armored type and appreciably slower than the older ones. She assumed they were making their best speed in order to eliminate the wounded Brynhildr before she exited the system.
Ana had her astrogator calculate the point of no return for the five dumbbells. In other words the point at which they would be about half way between Brynhildr and Hilda yet so far away that they could not be helped by the remaining fleet.
Ana wanted to kill the entire fleet, but on this day five would do nicely.
...
Wu System - Holgata Station - Year 3248 October 15 ET 09:33
As the Diana liner had docked Toni saw on her vid monitors that chaos reigned below. She had seen what she called organized chaos before, but this chaos was not organized. The wounded and injured were unloaded onto the dock and the medical team, together with the dock crew, worked feverishly to sort and then treat the wounded. They were also sorting out the dead.
The Megra fleet had not moved forward and had remained just outside the minefield of Severan Portal. Toni was surprised that they did not press home their advantage in numbers, but the OCN position here in the Wu system was a strong one. Relatively strong she thought, but not so strong in the face of 28 dumbbells many of which were the new heavily armored type. The Great Maw had not yet appeared and for that Toni was grateful. However she had no doubt that the Megra fleet sitting at a standstill was waiting for something and that something was probably the Great Maw. This gave Toni some breathing time.
"Mr. Ulf, you have the bridge. I am going to the deck. Ping me of any change."
Toni walked swiftly out of the armored bridge enclosure which sat just below her weapons tubes and plasma guns. She passed through three airlock systems and as she opened the fourth she was hit by the stench of burning flesh and death. She entered 'A' dock and passed what could only be described as a charnel house of dead There were no body bags covering the dead although an pile of bags was pushed off to one side. The dead had simply been placed here to await their turn. Toni knew they were dead because they were not moving and silent, and one look at their wounds told her everything she needed to know. Ten paces on she saw Dr. Billings and six of his crew. They worked in teams of two and as Toni watched she saw an orderly with Dr. Billings pull at the toe tag of a bloody child. He read something out and Billings just shook his head. The orderly tore off a portion of the tag. It was the red portion and he dropped the bit of red cardboard onto the floor. Only the black portion of the tag remained affixed to the child.
Billings moved on to another injured child also with a red toe tag, and after moments two other orderlies arrived with a slider and unceremoniously hoisted the child onto the slider and ran, literally ran, to the medical center dragging the slider behind them. Billings moved on to another victim. The one thing that struck Toni the most was how quiet the whole ghastly scene had become. Toni might have expected cries for help, or moaning from the injured, but the dock was mostly quiet except for the occasional shouts from the doctors or the orderlies. Then it struck her. These were the worst wounded. The wounded that could not be helped at Wu Station and they were quiet because they were near death or had already joined their ancestors. Toni wanted to help, but there was nothing she could do. She turned to return to the bridge when she slipped and fell onto the deck. Odd she thought until she looked at the blood covered deck.
Someone reached over to help her stand but she almost fell again.
Toni looked at her helper. "Krzysztof. Your Krzysztof the pilot from Diana?"
"Yes," replied Krzysztof. Toni saw that Krzysztof seemed intact amid all the carnage, but his hands and clothing were bloody and singed.
"I brought the liner here. With the wounded. Our system is gone." Krzysztof almost collapsed crying. Toni found herself now helping to hold the Diana Captain up. "Katarzyna, she di
ed. She was pilot on the last ship in. She's dead. They are all dead. My family..."
Dr. Billings spotted Toni and rushed over. "Toni we have more wounded than we can handle. And I just heard word from Wu Station they want to send sixty more. I don't think we can take them. Just look at this." Billings waved his arm about.
Toni did not need to look about the deck, but instead looked Dr. Billings in the eye. "Doctor Billings, Smilot would not send them here if they could accommodate them on Wu. I suspect..., no..., I know, they have it far worse than we do. All sixty of those unattended wounded will undoubtedly die, and if you can save only one you will have performed your duty."
Billings shook his head but then in whispered breath replied, "Yes. I know." An orderly cried out for assistance and Billing quickly departed leaving Toni to face Krzysztof.
"Krzysztof. Are you still able to fly a Diana ship?"
Krzysztof who was wiping away his tears and leaving a bloody smear from his hands across his face nodded affirmatively.
"Then Krzysztof I need you to defend Wu and take revenge on these monsters."
Krzysztof looked surprised.
"Follow me Krzysztof."
Realizing there was nothing she could do on 'A' deck she motioned for Krzysztof to follow on to 'B' deck. As they entered the deck she found dock master Arnold Schmitt and a small crew carefully loading 'K's and the modified casters on the a Diana freighter.
"Arnold. I will need some volunteers from your crew to join the freighter and to assist the transfer of these munitions from this freighter to the fleet ships. Hard vac suits will be needed."
Arnold nodded. "I figured that and my entire dock crew volunteered. I'll pick the best qualified for hard vac transfer."
Toni took a hard look at Krzysztof. "Can you fly this thing? Krzysztof can you fly it?" Silvi asked knowing that she had no one who was familiar with Diana freighter flight systems.
Krzysztof looked at the ship and replied, "That's Aleksandra's ship. I think she should fly it."
"She's dead Krzysztof. No sooner did she dock than she collapsed on the dock. How she made it to the station is a miracle. And now I need a miracle from you."
Krzysztof straightened up and Toni could see that the loss of Aleksandra was yet another hard blow.
"Krzysztof, can you fly this?"
Krzysztof nodded his head and then replied, "Yes."
"Good Krzysztof, because soon our fleet will be without munitions and those Megra will come into the system and kill all of us. I need you to fly this freighter out to our fleet and provide them with more munitions. I'm not sure how fast or sturdy this freighter is Krzysztof, but it is the only link we have to the fleet and I need you to fly it."
Krzysztof looked stunned for a moment. "Yes I can fly. Aleksandra's freighter was fast and sturdy. But I will need to check damage."
"Good." replied Toni. "Now go aboard and check the ship. Loading of the munitions will take another eight hours. After you have checked the ship, find a shower and a fresh ship suit, and report to the bridge. Oh, and ask Arnold for a hard vac suit and have him show you how to put it on. Do you understand."
"And these munitions will kill Megra?"
"Of course they will Krzysztof. They will kill all the Megra if you can deliver them in time." Toni knew she was hoping her claim was true, but she needed Krzysztof focused on the task.
As Toni swiftly walked back to the Bridge she passed Master of Arms for the station. Brent Baxter. "How is the project Brent."
Brent replied, "All done. Here is the code needed to set the crazy thing off." Brent tapped his inter-tab against Toni's and her inter-tab chimed. "Better to give you the code directly than broadcast it. Might just blow up the entire station."
"Good. Load it on to the fast freighter we are using to ferry arms to the fleet. I'll transfer it to New Kara in a few hours."
Brent nodded and Toni's vid-com pinged.
It was Lars Ulf. "That big maw has arrived. Just entered the portal and it is really big. It's proceeding at an extraordinarily slow pace, like it is worried a few mines might still remain, which of course is a possibility. Also Göndul has just returned and I have directed her to approach the station at best speed. She is 14 hours out."
"I am returning to bridge now."
Toni returned to the bridge and realized she had been awake for almost 30 hours. She knew she needed to focus, but without some sleep she would be useless. The bridge crew had rotated on schedule and if ever there were a moment to catch a bit of sleep it was now. As chaotic as things were, her skilled crew were at work, and the Megra fleet was many hours away if and when they decided to move.
"I'll be in my quarters. Notify me of any change in status."
Tony entered her quarters, fell into her bunk, and slept.
Toni tossed and turned and her arm again began to pulse in pain. Her vid-com pinged and she woke up. It was Lars Ulf returned to the bridge on normal rotation. Toni realized she had slept almost six hours, but it felt like she hadn't slept at all.
"Yes Mr. Ulf."
"Mr. Krzysztof is here. He said you wanted to see him."
"Yes, give me a moment an I'll be back in my office."
Toni took a short, very short shower, dressed, affixed her prosthetic arm and walked the few paces to her office. Awaiting her was Krzysztof.
Toni immediately asked, "Is the ship loaded and are you ready to go?"
"Yes," replied Krzysztof. "The Fortune of Diana has some damage but she is still fast and I am sure we can make it."
Chapter One Hundred Fourteen
Wu System - Holgata Station - Year 3248 October 16 ET 12:01
The Fortune of Diana with her load of munitions left Holgata Station around midnight. Her first destination was the SAR Gunnr and travel time from Holgata to the ship was 15 hours. Gunnr had the lowest reserve of munitions. The freighter was fast, but not nearly as fast as a SAR and she had been damaged in the exodus from Diana. Toni watched her progress from the bridge of Holgata Station and her speed seemed to be perhaps just a bit faster than the older dumbbells and definitely faster than the new designs. If things went bad Fortune of Diana might have a chance to run for it.
Silvi's flotilla had drawn back into one of the main debris fields of the Wu system. Her SARs, Eir, Hirst, Hildeberg, Göndul, and Gunnr had arranged themselves in a radial pattern each ship about 400,000 kilometres from the rest enabling them to use converging fire on the Megra fleet when it chose to move. Successful converging fire also required the Megra to maintain a tight formation and that remained to be seen. The Crusher New Kara, Silvi's flagship, stood in the center of the circle of ships but further back. The effect was one of a cone with the open end facing the Megra and the tip further back centered on New Kara with her 64 launch tubes.
By partially obscuring her fleet in the debris field Silvi sought an advantage in having a full map of the drifting wreckage of past ancient battles. Megra ships while scanning for the OCN fleet might well have trouble differentiating between half an old Unity dreadnought and a SAR. If the Megra came closer the energy signatures of her SAR's would easily give away their position, but for now the distance was such that the Megra were going to be uncertain about the exact disposition of her ships. Additionally it took some skill and knowledge of the debris fields in order to manoeuvre effectively in their space. Without a detailed map Megra was at another disadvantage.
As Silvi watched from the bridge of New Kara she glanced at the ship's clock which was on the bulkhead above the vid screen. Since establishing the new OCN defensive position the Megra had not moved. Only the Great Maw and pushed forward at a dead slow pace and when it cam abreast of its supporting fleet it simply stopped. Hours had passed and the Megra had not moved.
Silvi decided on a captains conference and Toni Hamilton as Area Commander was invited in. It took no more than five minutes to set up the call.
Silvi began by asking her captains of their current readiness for battle. All ships reported they were read
y and Gunnr anticipated a full load of munitions as soon as Fortune of Diana completed its' transfer which would start in a few hours. Eir was next on the list for a resupply, and then the plan called for Fortune of Diana to enter the debris field and find a place to hide. As the battle unfolded she would be called upon to resupply ships as needed. Until that time she was to supply Gunnr and Eir and then seek refuge in the debris field, preferably behind something big, and Silvi knew from previous experiences there was plenty of big stuff to hide behind.
Next Silvi asked her captains for their opinion on why the Megra had not moved since passing through the minefield and all were agreed that a rendezvous with the Great Maw was their justification for standing idle. However now that the Great Maw had joined its' fleet the fleet continued to just sit there.
The consensus of the captains was that the Megra were inviting the OCN to attack. Toni listened intently to the discussion, but made no suggestions. This was going to be Silvi's battle and there was little Toni could add from her station. Further Toni had full confidence in Silvi and her team.
After a full discussion Silvi closed the meeting by simply saying they would stay as they were until Megra made a move, but in the meantime she intended to send probes as far toward the Megra fleet as they could. She also ordered repetitive 'M' scans on the fleet with emphasis on the Great Maw. Silvi wanted a more complete description of the frontal area of the Great Maw and what its' large indentation might hold in the way of new weapons. She had all five of her SAR's fire two probes simultaneously hoping that as the Megra destroyed them with cover fire, that one or two might get close enough to provide some new information. And in order for the probes to have a good chance of actually spotting something she ordered her new Captain Rozel Eldjárn to time a volley of casters to arrive on the Great Maw as the probes entered the kill zone of the Megra ships. Active probes had recently been produced using some of the 'K' class missile kits found on Eleos. The explosive warhead had been removed and replaced by a readily available set of electronic and visibility scanners found from the Mining and Fabricators Guild's inventory.
