“Make sure the Icarus and Hyperion are angling out to compensate,” Jackson said. “Coms! Any word from the Atlas?”
“Just automated responses, sir,” Keller replied. “Any transmission that includes the name or registry number of the ship triggers the automated mayday.”
“Understood,” Jackson said. “Keep trying.” He was almost tempted to have the Hyperion peel off the pursuit and go render aid or at least investigate, but he couldn’t afford to try and corral the Alpha with only two destroyers on the line.
“OPS, prep a Jacobson drone for launch,” he ordered instead. “I want it to fly back and confirm the status of the Atlas and verify the loss of the Artemis.”
“Aye, sir,” Hayashi said. “Sending mission parameters down to flight ops now.”
It flew in the face of all Jackson's training to leave a potentially stranded group of spacers aboard a stricken starship when he had resources available to effect a rescue, but this wasn’t training and he couldn’t reduce his force by another third when he was already outgunned. The likelihood that anyone on the Artemis survived the plasma burst was so slim that he dared not pull another ship from his formation just to verify that, especially not when he had a hangar full of drones that could accomplish the same thing.
“If Colonel Blake was successful in his mission, why is his group returning to Terran space instead of flying out here as fast as they can to help us?” Davis asked him. “From what I understand, their FTL technology could put their strike ships out here well before this battle is over.”
“That’s a good question, Lieutenant,” Jackson frowned. “But since I have no direct way to contact New Sierra or Colonel Blake it’ll have to be pondered another time. The cube has been very specific about what it will and won’t do … and apparently talking to the human strike group is on the ‘won’t do’ list.”
Davis didn’t offer a rebuttal, but Jackson was more than a little disturbed at the obviousness of her observation. Why were the Vruahn leaving the Ninth flapping in the breeze against such an overmatched enemy when Blake’s ships could easily and more precisely subdue the monster they were chasing? Even more puzzling, why was the cube restricting such an obvious asset as the instantaneous interstellar com capability to talk to Blake or at least simply relay a message? The more he thought about it the more he again felt the gentle tug of the strings, being made to dance to the Vruahn’s tune. What left him seething was the fact that he had little choice for the foreseeable future but to continue letting them call the shots until he had more information.
The Super Alpha recovered from the gravity bomb much quicker than Jackson would have expected, much quicker than the first one he’d encountered would have been able. This made him approach the target with a bit more respect, a feeling that was apparently mutual as the Alpha abruptly changed course to take it away from the two closing destroyers ahead of it while still keeping ahead of the Ares. Jackson allowed himself a small, tight grin as he thought about the surprise the bastard must have had when they’d lit off a weapon that was generations ahead of anything it thought humans were capable of building.
“Captain, we’re approaching delta-V roll off,” Ensign Hayashi said over the muted rumble of the engines. “Target is still maintaining its interval and is matching all velocity changes.”
“Understood,” Jackson said. “Stand by for course change.” A ship like the Ares, which was pushed through space via the brute force method of direct thrust, would eventually come to a point at which the thrust of the engines were only able to give them a negligible bump in velocity. The roll off was just before they would reach their maximum velocity and it was an area in a ship’s performance band captains preferred to stay out of for a couple of reasons. The first was that the ship had to expend an incredible amount of propellant for not a lot of gain, and the other was that it didn’t allow for maneuvers that required them to accelerate ahead.
He could ignite the auxiliary boosters, but that wouldn’t give him a significant boost at their current velocity, and he had no doubt that the Alpha could just match their increase and keep ahead of them. The problem with this breed of Alpha was that they weren’t so easily fooled into taking rash action and tended to be much more cautious once their nose had been bloodied. Jackson didn’t think there was anything he could do to try and goad the Phage ship into coming about and charging him.
“Helm, come to port forty-six degrees relative, eleven degrees inclination,” Jackson ordered after staring at the tactical plots for a moment. “Reduce engine power: ahead one-half.”
“Coming onto new course and reducing engine output, aye.” The helmsman shot a questioning look over his shoulder.
“Specialist Accari, I am not relieving you of your task,” Jackson caught the look. “I’m just playing a hunch here and flying by feel.”
“Of course, Captain,” Accari said, his voice giving no indication he’d been insulted by his captain assuming the job of navigating the ship.
“Coms, tell Captain Wright I want her formation to continue along their current course and mirror any move made by the Phage,” Jackson said. “She is to maintain her interval to it unless it turns away and makes for the outer system, then she is authorized to assume the lead position and disable it before it can escape.”
“Yes, sir.” Keller slid his headset fully back onto his ears.
“Another hunch?” Davis asked.
“More like another blind stab into the dark,” Jackson muttered. “I just want to get a feel for how this one reacts to changes before we close the range and get into a running gun fight.”
The Alpha continued on as the Ares ceased accelerating and began to gently push off course towards the inner system. After three hours of steadily coming onto their new course, the Phage ship began to respond, but not in any way Jackson had assumed it would.
“Alpha has come to a full stop,” Barrett said.
“What?” Jackson nearly shouted in disbelief.
“Confirmed, sir,” Hayashi said. “Vruahn telemetry and our own Link updates show the target sitting stationary in space relative to the primary.” Jackson looked at the tactical plots in disgust as he realized he’d put all of his ships out of position. The Ares was travelling entirely in the wrong direction and the Icarus and Hyperion were bunched up and on a course that would make it almost impossible for them to come about onto a direct intercept without the Alpha having limitless options to easily evade them.
“Clever bastard,” Jackson ground out. “It wasn’t sure what we were doing, so it’s just not going to play. It’s completely taken the initiative away from us.”
“Orders, sir?” Davis asked.
“Helm, steady as she goes,” Jackson said. “Coms! Tell Captain Wright I need her to accelerate and angle out … get between the target and the outer system.”
“A blockade with two destroyers?” Davis asked.
“Watch and learn, Lieutenant,” Jackson smiled with a confidence he didn’t feel.
Once Celesta Wright had ordered her two-ship formation to an obvious course to cut the Alpha off from the outer system the Phage ship stopped again. Jackson watched the twenty-minute-old data on his tactical display with narrowed eyes. Redeploying Celesta’s ships had been an obvious move, but it was also the only logical ploy left to him given the fact that the Ares was so badly out of position. He thought the Phage must be confused as to why the Ares was still slowly drifting out of the area and wasn’t willing to blindly run into another trap.
“Coms! Get me a direct channel to Commander Singh,” Jackson barked.
“Go for Engineering,” Singh’s calm voice came over the bridge speakers.
“Commander, I have a series of unusual requests to make of your equipment and I don’t have a lot of time to explain the why of it.” Jackson sat back in his seat, heart racing.
“We aim to please, Captain,” Singh said. “What can we do for you?”
“I want Reactor Two vented to space,” Jackson sa
id. “At the same time I want the appearance of a plasma breach on Engine One. Open the constrictors so that the chamber evacuates in an uncontrolled burst … obviously not enough to damage the engine but enough that it looks like we’ve lost containment.”
“All simple enough requests, sir,” Singh said. “I think I know where you’re going with this. Just so you know, once we purge and restart Reactor Two it will be up to an hour before it’s generating power again. Reactor One can handle both main engines, but you’re going to be limited to whatever charge the weapons have currently until the powerplant is back up to one hundred percent.”
“Understood,” Jackson said. “Get to it.”
“Will do, sir,” Singh said. “Engineering out.”
It wasn’t even ten minutes later when alarms began blaring on the bridge and the output of Reactor Two dropped to nothing. Along the ventral surface of the ship a pair of baffles snapped open and the superheated helium byproduct of the fusion reaction was vented into space. As the blast of ionized gas began to taper off, brilliant flashes of uncontrolled plasma billowed out of the forward and aft thrust nozzles of Engine One. The Ares began to list to port slightly and even rolled into a forward tumble, a nice touch suggested by an enthusiastic helmsman and approved by Jackson.
“Vents are sealed and Reactor Two is being purged and prepped for restart,” Hayashi reported. “Engine One’s magnetic constriction system is back to normal operation and the propellant injectors are coming back online. Engineering says the plasma chamber will be hot within the next fifteen minutes.”
“Thank you, Ensign,” Jackson said. “Helm, reassert attitude control on the Ares. Bring us back to stable flight along our same course. Zero thrust until Engine One is back to normal ops.”
“Aye aye, sir.”
“Now we wait,” Davis said tightly.
“Now we wait,” Jackson nodded.
The sensor lag was especially excruciating as Jackson felt particularly vulnerable with his ship literally at half-power. He didn’t think he’d need the laser batteries or the auto-mag in the anticipated action, but experience told him that if they were unavailable then it would be those systems needed most. He resisted the urge to send a transmission to the Icarus. Celesta knew what she was doing and there was nothing to be decided until they found out what the Phage ship was doing.
“Target has come about and is accelerating on a direct intercept vector!” Barrett called out twenty-three minutes after they’d put on their lightshow.
“I don’t think it’s fully committed yet,” Jackson frowned. “It should be capable of acceleration rates four times that. Coms! Order our two remaining ships onto a pursuit course. Tell Captain Wright to make it look like they’re coming to our aid.”
“Aye, sir.”
“It’s still cautious,” Davis said. “That Vruahn weapon must have really shaken it.”
“Agreed,” Jackson said. “But it’s still coming. No matter how much smarter it is than a normal Alpha, it’s still a predator. Its prey instinct is just too strong. It’ll chase us.”
“And we want that?”
“What we want is for it not to flee the system,” Jackson said. “If we have to use ourselves as bait to make that happen … so be it.”
“Yes, sir.”
****
“It’s still closing, sir … but it certainly isn’t in any hurry to catch us.” Davis stifled a yawn as Jackson walked back onto the bridge. The Alpha had made it clear that it had no intention of blindly running into close range with the Ares, but it didn't seem inclined to pass up the opportunity of a wounded Terran starship either.
“Thank you, Lieutenant.” Jackson sat down and rubbed his eyes. “You’re dismissed. Try and get some sleep.”
“Yes, sir.”
They had been flying under the ruse of only one operable engine for nearly two days. When the Alpha had halted its advance and began to pace them Jackson had little choice but to stand down half his crew and go to two watches. There was a certain symmetry to being doggedly pursued by a Super Alpha. He’d nearly forgotten how unnerving it was to have a silent enemy trail along behind them for days … just waiting for them to make that critical mistake.
“Do you think we could try another ruse with the flight equipment?” Barrett asked. “Draw it in closer?”
“I doubt it would work.” Jackson shook his head. “It’s closed in as much as it’s going to until some new, unknown conditions are met and then it’ll press the attack. I think we may need to force the issue. It’s not going to be fooled by the Icarus and Hyperion lagging behind like they are. Any word back from the Jacobsen drone?”
“Uh … yes, sir,” Barrett blinked at the change of topic. “Stand by.” He swung around at his terminal and brought up another window that contained all the raw data from the drone sweep.
“Intel just sent up the report from CIC. As suspected, the Artemis is a total loss, sir. No beacons or lifeboats; there actually wasn’t much debris that was recognizable as parts of the ship.”
“Understood.” Jackson swallowed hard. “And the Atlas?”
“The drone hasn’t sent an updated packet yet; the preliminary report shows the Atlas in a slowly decaying orbit over the planet, but she appears to be mostly intact. She looks to be streaming atmosphere and does not seem to be under power.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant Commander,” Jackson said. “Make the information available on the Link. Tell flight ops I want the drone continually hailing the Atlas until they respond or we order it to stop.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Nice of you to join us, Lieutenant,” Jackson said without turning around.
“Yes, sir,” Lieutenant Keller said. “I’m sorry, sir.”
“Open a direct command level channel to the Icarus, if you would,” Jackson sat down and slipped in his earpiece. It wasn’t long before the channel was established on the other end.
“Captain Wright,” the familiar voice said, causing Jackson to smile in spite of himself.
“Captain,” he said. “I feel like our little charade here has run its course.”
“Agreed, sir,” Celesta said, the com lag just barely noticeable. “I assume you’re contacting me with a plan?”
“You assume correctly,” Jackson said. “I don’t want to give this bastard time to collect its thoughts, and I sure as hell don’t want to allow any reinforcements to get here and ruin the party. Here’s what I had in mind.”
Over the next forty minutes he and his former XO hammered out their strategy, planned for contingencies, and then set about trying to pick holes in both. Once they had both agreed on a course of action and a timetable Jackson terminated the link and looked at his mission clock. He wanted Davis back on duty once the fun started, but he could allow her a few more hours of sleep. It would take Celesta some time to brief her crew and wingman and then get her ships redeployed. The Ares was as ready as she could be. They were still feigning a failed engine, but at least had the powerplant back to full capacity. If their plan worked they’d need it soon.
****
“Targeting scans from the Icarus and Hyperion detected, Captain,” Barrett called over the other conversations on the bridge. “No reaction yet from the target.”
“They’ve begun accelerating,” Hayashi reported. “Both ships are following their predesignated course.”
“Track them through the Link on the main display,” Jacksons said. “I don’t want the lag of watching our own radar tracks.”
“Aye, sir.” The other two destroyers were broadcasting their positions over the Link, so simply using that data to populate the tactical display would cut the reporting time at least in half.
The Alpha was still pacing behind the Ares as the other two ships bore down on it, and Jackson knew it would have to make a decision soon. He hoped it would be a hasty decision that would work out in their favor. All they knew about the Super Alphas was that they were significantly smarter than their similar cousins, but nobody
Jackson had talked to had been willing to quantify exactly what that meant. They had no frame of reference for judging the Super Alpha’s intelligence other than the fact they were the only Phage ships that were able to operate alone.
Watching the responses of this one, and taking into account his experience with the first Phage ship that had attacked human space, he was inclined to look at these units as more instinctual than cerebral. They lashed out when wounded, pounced on damaged or weaker ships no matter if it exposed them to risk, and although they appeared to be able to reason out basic tactics they also seemed unwilling or unable to disengage from a skirmish once they’d locked horns.
If one were to believe the Vruahn and there really was one central, massive intellect controlling all of the Phage, then it made sense that even the Super Alphas wouldn’t be as intelligent as some believed. There was a loose consensus among Terran scientists that seemed to correlate the large amount of neural mass to an equally large intellect. When Jackson pointed out contradictory observations to this theory he was patronizingly told that perhaps the subject was a bit outside of his field of expertise.
“Sir! The Alpha is now accelerating towards us!” Hayashi’s voice was bordering on shrill. “Four hundred Gs and holding.”
“Steady, Lieutenant,” Jackson said. “This is what we wanted. Helm, Engine Two ahead full and stand by on Engine One.”
“Engine Two ahead full, aye,” the helmsman said. The Ares surged ahead on the power of her starboard engine, but they had no chance of staying ahead of the Alpha without their other main. Jackson hoped the Alpha realized that as well and would move in just a little closer for the kill.
“Target is still closing,” Barrett said. “Range … three hundred and twenty thousand kilometers.”
“We need to get it in just under twenty-five thousand kilometers,” Jackson said. “Helm! What’s the status of Engine One?”
“Engine One is in standby and ready to engage, sir!” the helmsman called.
“Very good.” Jackson sat and took a deep breath. “Let’s stay calm and continue playing the wounded prey. We cannot flinch or the Icarus and Hyperion will be flying right into the monster’s teeth.”
Counterstrike (Black Fleet Trilogy, Book 3) Page 15
