by S. H. Jucha
Alex sent his partner a flood of images — none of them appropriate for sharing with others.
Renée laughed at the images she received. Her tease had the desired effect. She’d reconsidered her initial emotional reaction to the aliens’ gruesome operation. Afterwards, she thought it necessary to balance that input to ensure that Alex wasn’t making decisions based on her anger.
Returning to the task at hand, Cordelia asked,
Alex admitted.
Julien advised.
Alex knew he was in danger of overreacting to the Dutterites killing the natives and collecting their bodies for food. He wanted to punish them, and his friend was trying to temper his anger, rightfully so.
The fleet exited its transit fifty thousand kilometers from Beryl’s scout ship.
A crew chief triggered the bay doors open, and a SADE, who was beside her, signaled the traveler’s controller. Then the ship slid out of the bay.
Cordelia connected to the traveler, relayed the target’s coordinates, and activated its program.
The traveler accelerated, straining its grav engines. Without a significant celestial body near the ship, it drained its extensive bank of power crystals, as it achieved a tremendous velocity.
The Freedom’s bridge holo-vid displayed the city-ship’s position, the alien fleet, and the planet. The bridge audience watched the traveler shoot toward its target. At any moment, the Omnians expected the Dutterites to activate their defenses and throw missiles at the ship. The element in the Omnians’ favor was that the traveler was launched soon after the fleet’s transit. This meant the traveler was racing across the dark, chasing its telemetry imagery. It narrowed the battleship’s window of opportunity to respond.
Remarkably, there was no attempt to intercept the traveler. It had horrendous velocity when it impacted the target battleship’s stern. The traveler buried its way through multiple decks, exploding volatile materials and detonating its power cells.
The rearward third of the massive battleship disappeared in a fiery explosion. Then secondary detonations rippled through the remaining part of the ship until it was fully engulfed. Finally, the ship’s hull stretched, as if it was elastic. Then it blew outward, throwing huge pieces of debris in all directions.
Killian kept Alex apprised of the surface activity. His final message was to report the lifting of the final shuttle after a hurried breakdown of the processing shelters.
With each message from Killian, Alex saw Renée glance his way. He knew what she wanted, despite Julien’s cautioning about the danger of targeting the shuttles. In this case, the SADE was absolutely right.
The shuttles joined the battleships, and the Dutterite fleet formed. By then, the Dutterites discovered the source of the attack. They moved above the ecliptic, putting the planet between their ships and those of the aggressors. However, the Dutterites chose not to sail too far. When their fleet adopted a fixed station, they oriented the ships’ bows toward the attackers.
“So much for understanding our message,” Reiko groused.
“They might have understood it and chose to ignore it,” Julien commented.
Alex experienced a moment of regret. If he’d ordered the launch of all six travelers, he might have decimated the fleet. Instead, he’d given away the element of surprise and was forced to find another way to deliver his message. Fueling his disappointment was the thought that another way might cost his fleet lives and ships. As it was, he chose to wait and see if the Dutterites eventually sailed toward federacy space.
Later in the evening, Alex, Renée, Tatia, Reiko, and Julien sat in the owner’s suite. Cordelia had informed them that the Dutterite fleet remained stationary.
“Perhaps, you should point the way, Alex,” Renée suggested.
“That’s what I was trying —,” Alex started to retort. He stopped when he caught Renée’s smile.
“Yes, we should do that,” Alex agreed, smiling. He activated the center table’s holo-vid and populated a wireframe of the current ship placements.
“Julien, coordinate with Cordelia,” Alex requested. “Arrange the Tridents like this.” A V shape appeared in the holo-vid. “Put the city-ship off to the side. I don’t want the Dutterites to think this is a protective formation.”
Julien understood Alex’s intent. “Might I suggest that we move the fleet so that our V points through the Dutterite battleships toward the wall?” he requested.
“What type of maneuver should we make to reach our new position?” Cordelia asked, her voice issuing from the holo-vid’s base.
Cordelia’s question caught Alex off guard, but Renée immediately responded, “Eye-catching, Cordelia.”
“An excellent suggestion, Ser,” Cordelia replied, sending her signature sound of laughter.
“This should catch the Dutterites’ attention,” Reiko remarked. “It’s going to be difficult for them not to pay attention to our new formation, especially after whatever Cordelia dreams up.”
Cordelia displayed a chronometer in the suite’s holo-vid to indicate the countdown until the V formation and the fleet’s maneuver was complete. Then rather than move the ships by the shortest distance, the Tridents swirled in a simulation of a vortex. As the warships circled one another, Cordelia moved the Freedom in their general direction but kept the ship outside their formation.
The chronometer registered zero, when the V came to a fixed station and directed the Dutterites in the expected exit direction. Alex and his audience waited. Hours later, they gave up and went to bed, except for Julien, who joined his partner.
In the morning, Omnian humans found nothing had changed, and Alex’s ire grew at the missed opportunity.
Alex placed a hand around Julien’s neck.
As the human and the SADE eased away from each other, Julien sent,
Alex replied.
Alex and Julien ended the conversation, and, with Renée beside them, they completed their walk to the bridge in silence.
“Alex,” Cordelia said in bright tones, “I’d like
to order a fleet maneuver. It’s nothing significant, but I’ve an idea.”
Alex regarded Cordelia and then shrugged. “We’re at an impasse, Cordelia. I’d appreciate anything that breaks it,” he said.
Julien activated the bridge holo-vid for Alex and the admirals, who he detected were about to join them.
“What’s happening?” asked Tatia, when she saw Alex staring expectantly at the holo-vid display.
“I’m assuming your role, Admiral,” Cordelia replied, with a tinkle of bells.
Alex grinned at Tatia, and she replied with a lift of eyebrows.
“Seriously, what?” Tatia repeated, when she stepped beside Alex.
“Cordelia has an idea, and I told her to try it,” Alex replied.
“What’s the idea?” Reiko asked.
“It’s a surprise,” Julien whispered conspiratorially.
The fleet’s V was entirely comprised of Tridents, which enabled Cordelia’s plan.
Alex and his staff watched the Trident formation reverse course for a few kilometers. The maneuver produced questioning looks.
Then the Tridents reversed course again, returning to their original positions. The maneuvers were executed in union, maintaining the formation. When the warships reversed course for the third time, the confused expressions morphed into smiles and grins.
Cordelia repeated the oscillations, demonstrating her concept of a great arrow, pointing the way toward federacy space.
When the Dutterites didn’t immediately respond, Franz asked, “What do we think … obstinate or dense?” He laughed at the chorus of divided opinions he received.
Cordelia monitored the Tridents’ power banks. The fleet was too far from the system for the ship’s shells to generate power, and her maneuvers depended on the grav engines. If she continued with her plan, she’d soon have to request permission to drain power from the beam hulls. She estimated that neither Alex nor Tatia would approve. As it was, her request wasn’t needed.
Alex’s face darkened and the admirals chose not to press him for an answer.
Alex sent Renée a mental kiss and took some deep breaths.
The admirals glanced briefly at Renée, indicating in subtle ways their appreciation for her assistance.
Days later, the Dutterite fleet passed through the sparse outer belt, and then it came to a halt. Cordelia realigned the Omnian fleet. It didn’t seem necessary to repeat her oscillating maneuvers. By now, the aliens either understood her message or they didn’t.
“Now I’m getting frustrated,” Tatia declared. “What good was sailing out here to resume the same standoff? Advanced race or not, I think these aliens lack basic comprehension skills.”
Hours later, Cordelia reported,
Alex and his staff stopped whatever they were doing and connected to the Freedom’s telemetry. This time they gave the SADEs time to determine direction.
A few minutes later, Cordelia acknowledged the Dutterites were headed for federacy space. A short time later, she added,
Tatia riposted.
Alex replied,
-27-
Overwhelmed
One evening the double A’s were ensconced in their separate quarters and deep in conversation.
Adrianna could hear the anxiety in Alphons’s thoughts. That bothered her. She thought of him as unflappable, a steady leader. His officers and crews did too.
Adrianna had hoped he wouldn’t ask that question. Of course, she wouldn’t say anything to another race about the humiliation of failing to exact revenge after arriving at Talus. Then again, she was likely to tell a different story, one of glorious success. That narrative would embolden other races, and that would suit her purpose even better.
Adrianna’s silence told Alphons that she hadn’t believed what she said. It had been for his benefit. He’d shown her uncertainty, and she’d tried to bolster his confidence.
Adrianna wanted to argue with Alphons’s unfounded adamancy. She’d heard the same statements from the others. She didn’t know whether it was blind belief, as if they were willing it to happen, or simply delusion on their part.
It must be catching, Adrianna thought, when she realized that she desperately wanted Alex and the fleet to return too — and soon.
More than another month passed after the A’s had spoken that night. Shortly before morning meal, the first fleet appeared beyond the belt.
Ellie called the commands to readiness. Taralum’s fleet was back at full strength. The bow-damaged battleship had been repaired, and a qualified first mate had been promoted to captain.
