by Ryk Brown
“That would explain why we never found coordinates for their homeworld in the Jar-Keurog’s navigational database,” Vladimir commented.
“If only their clan leaders know the location of the homeworld, how do they get the comm-drones back to them?” Nathan inquired.
“Gerard said the drones used to communicate directly with the Jung homeworld are all automated. They know the way back.”
“So all we have to do is catch one and get the location from it,” Nathan concluded.
“That’ll never happen. First, how are you going to catch a drone moving at one hundred times light?” Jessica asked. “Second, they’re encrypted and protected. Everything will fry if you try to access it without the proper code, and the only people that know the codes are on the Jung homeworld.”
“What if a drone is sent to a location but the battle platform isn’t there?” Cameron asked.
“If a platform moves, it leaves a forwarding buoy to tell the comm-drone of its new destination and expected arrival date. If the drone arrives and finds no platform or forwarding buoy, it will either head for the next nearest battle platform or return to its last destination, whichever is closest.”
“What does this all mean for us?” Commander Kovacic wondered.
“It means that by now, just about every Jung ship in this sector knows that Earth has been liberated, and that her forces represent a considerable threat,” Jessica explained.
“It’s worse than that, I’m afraid,” Admiral Dumar added. “The nearer ships, the ones we were planning on taking out to complete our buffer zone around Sol, are also aware of our weapons and tactics. It means we’ve lost the element of surprise.”
“But we’ve got superior fire-power, and superior propulsion systems,” Commander Kovacic pointed out.
“That’s not going to be enough,” Jessica warned, “not if they come in force. And I’m talking about real force. Thirty or forty ships, multiple battle platforms, waves of probing attacks to test and wear down our offenses.”
“The lieutenant commander is correct,” Commander Telles agreed. “Up until this point, the Jung have always come with the assumption that they held the advantage by a considerable margin. All of our intelligence indicates that the Jung prefer to engage with superior numbers. Once they realize that their previous numbers were woefully inadequate, they will come better prepared. They will come prepared to fight a war, not a battle.”
“If that were the case, shouldn’t they have set a better trap for us in Tau Ceti?” Commander Kovacic asked.
“Not really,” Jessica replied. “Gerard said the Jung in the Tau Ceti system were aware that the Earth had been liberated. They were also aware that we had jump drives, but I don’t think they had any idea that we had destroyed two of their battle platforms.”
“That would make sense,” Major Prechitt agreed. “The first platform only got one comm-drone off and it was headed in the general direction of Alpha Centauri when it went FTL. So, whatever word they got was from the second battle platform, probably before they even left the Alpha Centauri system on their way to Earth.”
“That’s exactly what I thought,” Jessica agreed.
“That would explain why their battle platforms weren’t taking any evasive actions,” Nathan added. “They weren’t even trying to make themselves hard to hit.”
“Because they didn’t expect to be hit,” Jessica surmised. “They probably thought that hiding two battleships to use for an ambush was more than enough.”
“Regardless, this information changes our plans considerably. We had talked about adding more plasma cannon turrets to both the Aurora and the Celestia,” Admiral Dumar said, “as well as broadside plasma cannons in the aft utility bays. However, the installation of shields had to take priority. We had planned on installing the additional weapons later, after we finished clearing the twenty light year sphere around Sol. Now that we’ve lost the element of surprise, we’re going to have to accelerate that timetable and add them as soon as possible. We need the extra fire power.”
“Can’t we still just hit them with KKV’s?” Vladimir wondered.
“They’ll be making random course changes now,” Nathan explained, “making it harder to target them.”
“It’s not that the KKVs will no longer work, it’s that it will take more of them to score a successful hit,” Admiral Dumar explained, “and we only have three KKVs left. Once you miss, the target will never hold a course long enough for you to take another shot, at least not for the rest of the engagement.”
“Admiral, we’re due to leave dry dock in eighteen days,” Cameron reminded him. “You can’t even fabricate a plasma cannon in that little time.”
“We’ll pull them from the Karuzara’s defenses.”
“And install them in eighteen days?”
“We can install the turret mounts and run the power feeds before you leave dry dock,” the admiral explained. “Then we can install the turrets in port. A little more difficult, but doable. The broadside cannons can also be installed while you’re operational. We can even do that while you’re in standard orbit.”
“If you keep pulling weapons and jump systems from this station, you’re going to make yourself defenseless,” Nathan told the admiral.
“We’re a big hunk of rock, Captain,” Admiral Dumar replied. “They can pound us all they want. We can rebuild. If they want to destroy us, they’re going to have to hit us with their own KKVs, in which case all the guns in the universe aren’t going to help. I’d rather we concentrate our efforts on hunting them down and taking them out before they get that close to Sol again.”
“It doesn’t matter how many plasma weapons you give us, Admiral,” Nathan warned. “As long as their shields are up, we’re not going to be able to touch those battle platforms. That’s why we used the KKVs in the first place. Overwhelming amounts of kinetic energy is the only thing that can get through them. Jumping in and firing plasma cannons doesn’t work, even with shields to protect us. The battle platforms have so much power available that their shields can recharge far faster than we can drain them.”
“I don’t want you to attack their battle platforms with plasma cannons while their shields are up, Captain. I’ve got something else in mind to deal with their shields.” Admiral Dumar picked up a remote and activated the massive view screen on the wall behind him. Technical drawings of what looked like a Takaran FTL comm-drone appeared on the screen. “The advantage to the FTL KKVs was that they had their own propulsion systems that were able to get them up to near-relativistic speed rather quickly. This made them relatively easy to deploy, as you just had to park them somewhere, then jump out and send them targeting info and a launch order. However, their FTL systems added considerable complexity to their operation and maintenance. Surprisingly, jump systems are far less complex, from an engineering standpoint. Also, they needed large amounts of propellant to get up to speed in a short time. The FTL aspect added little to its destructive potential since, at the moment of impact, the drone’s FTL fields would collapse and the vehicle’s kinetic energy would become the same as it was before the mass-canceling fields negated her mass. The FTL capabilities only allowed us to get the weapon to the target undetected, since you can’t see the light of an object that is traveling faster than its own light before it hits you.”
“Uh, Admiral?” Jessica asked, her hand raised. “What are we looking at?”
“It’s a jump-enabled Kinetic Kill Vehicle, or JKKV. It was Lieutenant Tillardi’s idea, and we’ve been working on it for some time now. It’s smaller than the previous KKVs and its propulsion system only carries enough propellant to make small, last minute course corrections.”
“How are we going to get them up to speed so they can do some damage?” Vladimir asked.
“We’re going to launch them from our fighter laun
ch tubes,” Cameron realized.
“Indeed we are,” the admiral replied.
“But your launch tubes were turned into plasma torpedo cannon bays,” Vladimir reminded her, “same as ours.”
“Not anymore,” Cameron commented.
“The Celestia’s fighter launch tubes have been restored, albeit in a different, more versatile configuration than before,” the admiral explained.
“No super cannons?” Nathan asked Cameron under his breath.
“Moved them underside, coming out our bow, just forward of bulkhead two,” Cameron replied in similarly hushed tones. “I’ll show you the specs later.”
“I don’t see a reactor,” Major Prechitt pointed out. “Where does the jump drive get its power?”
“From energy banks, pre-charged with just enough energy for a single jump. After getting up to a speed that will result in a sufficient level of kinetic energy, and after establishing an initial intercept trajectory, the devices will be launched. At the appropriate moment, they will jump to a point far enough away from the target to allow a last-minute course adjustment, but close enough that the target will have insufficient time to take evasive or defensive actions.”
“The KKVs were traveling at eighty percent the speed of light,” Nathan said. “It will take time, and a lot of propellant to get an explorer class ship up to that speed.”
“Yes it will, but propellant is something we have in abundance, thanks to our Tannan allies. However, we were planning on launching them at forty to fifty percent light.”
“Will that be enough to take out a battle platform?” Jessica wondered.
“Probably not,” the admiral admitted. “At least not with one or two strikes. However, we calculate that it should be enough kinetic energy to bring down at least some of their shields. Hit them with three or four, and their shields will definitely be down, and they’ll be hurting. Hit them with five or six and they’ll be done for.”
“If they’re making random course changes, they’re going to be hard to hit with even one or two, let alone five or six,” Nathan said.
“Hence the need for greater firepower on your ships, as well as shields. Once you get her shields down with a few JKKV strikes, you may have to stand toe-to-toe with her and slug it out. That’s why we’re giving everyone shields, so that you can slug it out with them.”
“Finally!” Vladimir exclaimed. “I was getting tired of patching holes in the hull.”
“How soon will these be ready for use?” Nathan asked.
“The prototype will be ready for testing in a few days. We have an additional ten of them already built, we’re just waiting for the prototype testing before finishing them up. If all goes well, we could have them ready for action in as little as three weeks, perhaps less.”
Admiral Dumar looked around the room, noticing the less than enthusiastic expressions on their faces. These were the people who would be taking the new weapons into battle, and their very survival would depend on their effectiveness. “Look, this is the best weapon we’ve got right now. It’s simple, quick and easy to build, and we can produce them in large numbers. And let’s face it, we’re going to have to take down a lot of Jung ships and battle platforms, in a relatively short amount of time. They may not have gotten hold of a jump drive this time, but they came frighteningly close. In fact, they may have captured a good scan of one. Next time, we might not be so lucky. And I don’t need to remind you of what happens if the Jung get a working jump drive of their own. Now I’ve been looking at the numbers on this, and everything else, for weeks now. The JKKVs, combined with the additional firepower on the Aurora and the Celestia as well as shields, give us a fighting chance. Add in the Jar-Benakh and possibly a couple of frigates, not to mention the gunships that should start coming off the line on Tanna in a month or so, and we might be able to hold the Jung at bay long enough for the Earth to recover and build up adequate defenses, and for the Avendahl to finally come and help tip the balance of power.” He looked out at his people one last time. “We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, people. Let’s get to it.”
Nathan sat for a moment, thinking, as the admiral left the podium and exited the conference hall.
“We meeting for dinner later?” Cameron asked.
“Sure,” Nathan replied, snapping out of his thoughts. “Your mess or mine?”
“Mine isn’t finished, yet,” Cameron replied.
“I will make you a beet salad that will make you cry,” Vladimir promised.
“I’m sure it will,” Cameron retorted.
Nathan stood up, noticing that Jessica was two steps ahead of them and heading quickly toward the exit.
“Hey, Telles,” Jessica called down the corridor outside the conference hall. “I need to talk to you.”
Commander Telles stopped, turning back toward Jessica as she approached. “What can I do for you, Lieutenant Commander?”
Jessica looked about, glancing over her shoulder at the others in the hallway, making sure they weren’t within earshot. “Over there,” she said, pushing the commander toward the corner, away from the others.
Commander Telles raised his eyebrows momentarily. “Very well.”
Jessica followed him a few steps down the hallway, then pulled on his shoulder to spin him back around to face her. She moved closer, standing nearly toe-to-toe, looking up at him with eyes narrowed but still piercing. “You told me you would make sure she got off Kohara safely, you son-of-a-bitch,” she accused, poking him in the chest with her index finger as she cursed. “So when the fuck were you planning on making that happen?”
Commander Telles looked down at Jessica, his gaze unwavering. “I assure you, Lieutenant…Commander, I had no choice in the…”
“Bullshit!” Jessica exclaimed, poking him in the chest again. “You get her the fuck off that rock, and you do it real damn soon, or I’m going to come looking for you. And when I do, I’m not going to be this fucking nice.”
Commander Telles turned his head a bit to his right, cocking his head and squinting slightly as he continued to lock eyes with her. “You do realize that I outrank you.”
“You do realize that I don’t give a fuck.” Jessica leaned even closer, rising up on her toes so that she was eye-to-eye with him. “Get her…off…that…rock.” Jessica lowered herself back down off her toes, turned and continued down the corridor, bumping shoulders with the commander on her way out.
Commander Telles turned his head and watched her walk away, one eyebrow raised in curiosity at the surprising confrontation.
Nathan and Vladimir walked up and stopped next to the commander. “What the hell just happened, Commander?” Nathan asked.
“I’m not exactly sure,” Commander Telles admitted. “I believe Lieutenant Commander Nash just insinuated a threat of physical violence against me should I not fulfill a promise I made back on the surface of Kohara.” He looked at Nathan and Vladimir. “Should she follow through on her threat, I do not wish to inadvertently harm her while defending myself.”
“If I were you, I’d be more worried about Jessica harming you,” Vladimir said.
“I’m quite sure that is not possible.”
“I don’t know,” Nathan said, “I’ve seen her take out bigger guys than you, Commander. Especially when she’s pissed.” Nathan turned and continued down the corridor as he spoke. “If I were you, I’d fulfill that promise.”
Commander Telles watched them walk away, a look of bewilderment on his face.
Commander Willard was next to approach the commander. “What’s wrong, Commander? You look confused, which is odd for a Ghatazhak.”
Commander Telles looked at Commander Willard for a moment. “Do you find Terran women to be…confusing?”
Commander Willard smiled, patting Commander Telles on the shoulder. “No more so th
an any others, Commander,” he said as he continued on his way.
CHAPTER FIVE
“Then, you already knew each other before you joined the Alliance?” Kata asked from the foldout jump seat, just behind the center pedestal in the jump shuttle.
“We flew together on Haven,” Josh explained as he finished preparing the shuttle for departure. “For a couple years.”
“What made you join the Alliance?”
“We didn’t exactly join,” Josh chuckled.
“Actually, the Alliance didn’t even exist back then,” Loki pointed out. “We flew a rescue mission to pick up Captain Scott and his people on Haven. They were under fire…”
“Oh! Remember how I took that sniper’s head off with the front of the harvester? That was slick!”
Loki looked at Kata. “You might want to edit that part out.”
“So, you rescued Captain Scott, and then what happened?” Kata asked, pressing forward with the interview.
“We all sort of got swept up. The Aurora jumped out of the Haven system to escape the Takarans, and a bunch of us from Haven were sort of stranded on board. A few got off on Corinair later, but most of us stayed onboard and eventually ended up in the Alliance.”
“I thought the Takarans were members of the Alliance?” Kata asked, a confused look on her face.
“They are now,” Loki amended. “That was before the Alliance. It’s a long story.”
“You know, we used to fly the Aurora,” Josh bragged. “Yeah, we were her primary flight crew.”
“Why aren’t you still flying her?” Kata wondered.
“Cuz flying a Falcon is a lot more fun,” Josh grinned.
Kata looked at Loki, expecting a different opinion.
