"Captain. We've confirmed the area is unoccupied by Byotai forces. There are no mines or active weapon systems in the area, and no sign of active scanning equipment."
He moved his hands and rotated the view of the ship. The position of the drones shifted accordingly. The asteroids were by far the most significant objects, but the bulk of them remained in the unusual ring around the starbase.
"I have four Avengers in the field, two on recon and two flying close escort. Two remain in reserve. All are loaded in case of trouble. Mongoose is operational and on the deck also."
"Good work, Lieutenant. Your pilots have not disappointed us. I am, however, more than a little surprised at the ships."
The Alliance vessels flickered red as the Captain tagged them.
"Are you certain there is no sign of life aboard them? What about the navigation beacon that brought us here?"
The Lieutenant shook his head, his disappointment clear to see.
"Crusader Squadron has performed three flybys so far, as well as deep scans. They show no signs of damage aboard the transports, but their powerplants are cold and their systems off-line. It's like they all just walked out and left. The beacon is near the escort ship and still active."
Captain Galanos looked away and spoke to somebody else for a second. The image blurred before her face returned.
"Very well. I am bringing Relentless in close. We need to secure those replenishment ships as fast as possible."
Even Lieutenant Higgs was taken aback at this haste.
"So soon, Sir? Shouldn't we..."
The Captain shook her head while answering.
"No, Lieutenant, time is not on our side. I have enough fuel and ammunition for one small skirmish. Any more, and we'll be reduced to hurling rock ice at them."
She tried to laugh, but it ended up being little more than a grimace.
"We cannot leave this sector until refuelled and restocked. Rotate your fighters. I want full coverage during this operation. We can salvage whatever supplies they have via the automated loader aboard Relentless."
"Understood, Captain."
For a moment, it seemed Captain Galanos had finished, but she continued to speak. Her face was tight, and the stress of their predicament clearly showed on her brow.
"Deploy six recon drones along the length of the ships. I need supplies brought on board quickly. I want Relentless fully fuelled and resupplied within the hour. Leave nothing to chance."
All major warships were now fitted with replenishment equipment. The gantries and pipes would extend out and connect to the ports fitted to the replenishment vessels. The system was designed to be as automated as possible so that it could be performed if necessary in the middle of battle. Even without crew on the ships, it would be possible to suck out fuel, water, and coolant from their storage holds. Assuming any still remained.
"And the abandoned Byotai research station, Captain?"
The Captain's face vanished from view, and the rest of the hologram distorted to noise before she came back into focus.
"Lieutenant. You've already deployed two recon probes to the base, and they confirm there are no weapons and active sensors. Are there not?"
He nodded slowly in agreement.
"Very well, Lieutenant. We don't have the manpower or the spacecraft to perform a full investigation. Not yet. The base can wait...for now."
He opened his mouth to protest, but the Captain kept going.
"The only priority is to get Relentless back into fighting form. I need food and water for the crew, ammunition for the guns, and fuel rods for our powerplants. Without these, we are as dead in space. We cannot fight or flee until this is done."
"Yes, Sir."
The signal cut, but it left Lieutenant Higgins with the uncomfortable realisation the Captain's description of their plight exactly matched the position faced by the four dead ships.
What if they suffered this exact same problem?
There was, of course, little point in worrying about this. He had a job to do, just like the others. There were only so many options available to them, and at this moment in time, they had neither the fuel nor ammunition to do otherwise. It was frustrating, and even if they could fight, they were hardly in good shape for it. His pilots were still to be tested.
We need to restore our combat capabilities. Then we can start worrying about everything else, not a moment before.
Lieutenant Higgins knew this was the sensible approach, but it didn’t stop a shiver run down his spine as he imagined the worst. He looked over his right shoulder at the two occupied pilot pods. Nate and Billy were locked down, with their helmets over their faces. Of the other four, two were watching the imagery feeds above Nate's position, while Matilda and Cassandra waited nearby.
"Flight Cadets. Your assessment, if you please."
Both turned from Nate's displays and joined him at the pit. Cassandra extended her arms and moved the models about in front of her. The computer made subtle adjustments based on the movement of her arms.
"The ships have been moored in a safe orbit around the base. Nate has already identified the clear orbital path, and it is the one taken by our comrades."
Lieutenant Higgins nodded.
"That is correct. What does this tell us?"
Matilda now rubbed her forehead. Although only a little older than the other five, she seemed to have aged considerably in the last few days. Her long, straight auburn hair hung over her shoulder in a mess, and she'd resorted to wearing her glasses, giving her an even older, sterner look. She tried to smile, but as usual it came off as more of a grimace.
"They've been captured or killed. The energy field in the starbase is blocking most of our deep scans. The ships are undamaged, so there is a possibility a weapon was used to kill those on board."
Cassandra listened intently and began nodding as Matilda reached the last few words. She lifted her hand while continuing to nod.
"Yes, yes. That's very true."
She then moved her hand in a circle around one of the ships.
"If the ship's magnetic energy fields were disabled, it would be possible to attack the crew with direct radiation."
"Exactly," Matilda agreed, "It would be like a solar flare ripping through the ship."
She pointed at the same place as Cassandra.
"Without radiation protection, the crew could be killed. There are rumours of neutron weaponry with the Byotai, aren't there?"
Lieutenant Higgins smiled.
"Good work, Cadets. Damned good work."
He then turned around and looked in the direction of Nate and Billy.
"Get yourselves ready. You'll be launching in a few minutes. I'll pass on your thoughts to the Captain."
The two cadets looked to each other as they acknowledged his orders, and then made their way towards their small cubicle units. The mirror screens were operating and showing the same views the pilots would see with their own eyes. It was an easy way for a third party to watch over the pilots. Lieutenant Higgins moved the model of the starbase forty degrees to give him a better view of the ships.
Is that what happened? Were you ambushed and hit with direction radiation weaponry?
The very thought of such a fearsome weapon made his skin crawl. The idea had been used in the past in the development of neutron bombs, but few now existed in the Alliance. Such weapons were classed as genocidal and outlawed by all civilised people. They were generally designed to unleash a burst of neutrons that would be intentionally allowed to escape as a weapon. These were capable of hitting a target with more than 14 MeV, a dose of radiation that was lethal to all known life forms. Even worse this radiation could penetrate every level of a warship unless properly shielded.
"Sir, drones are ready and on the rails," said Matilda.
The two flight cadets were both ready, their helmets fitted and straps automatically locked in tightly. With all of their senses now cut off from the ship, they were just as attached to their drones as Nate
and Billy were.
"Very good. Continue your checks and wait for my mark."
As they ran through their long checklists, Lieutenant Higgins moved his attention to the ships. There were now five Alliance ships in the immediate area, including ANS Relentless. Four were transport and replenishment ships of the Alliance Navy Auxiliary, and the final a late generation Furious class light frigate. Introduced after the war, the Furious was the standard escort ship. It combined the combat abilities of pre-war cruisers as well as small hangar mounts to carry drone fighters. In total, it was a considerable array of ships, but lacked the one thing critical to survival in enemy territory, capital ships. Relentless was by far the largest and most capable of them all, and more important, she was only one that currently bore any signs of life.
I don't like this, not one bit.
He reached forward and tapped the icons for his pair of fighters. Crusader Three and Four were a long way from Relentless and currently following a figure of eight flight path over the silent ships. The response from them was immediate.
"Crusader Squadron. What's your status?"
* * *
The view from the drone's cockpit was glorious, and Nate could have sat there to admire it for hours, perhaps even days. The rocks of the Arnos Cluster paled into insignificance next to the great chunks of ice drifting slowly about. Some were as big as moons, and glinted as his front flood lamps scanned from left to right. Positioned amidst the flotsam of space were the Alliance ships, and as each minute drifted past, they became more and more worrisome. To his surprise, the beacon had not been transmitting from the ships, but from inside an ice formation.
"We have made four complete passes. There are no signs of damage on the transports. I'm picking up strange readings throughout the frigate, though. None are responding to our hails. Either they are unable to respond, or they are unwilling."
This was not what Nate or the others had expected. Deep down there was always the chance the ships would not have made it, but they were here, and so far there was nothing active anywhere near them, with the exception of the automated beacon that lay a short distance from the frigate.
This is all too weird.
The scanners detected yet another large section of rock, and he tapped the controls to move around it. This one was much smaller and little bigger than the drone. It was almost impossible to see, and he was now completely reliant upon the high-resolution radar scanners fitted to the drone to stay safe.
If we were doing this in the MK I Lightnings, we would have been killed hours ago.
It was an odd feeling to know how close they could have been to death, more so because neither Nate nor Billy were actually inside the Avenger drones.
"Understood, Crusader Three. What about the escort ship? I notice she's further away from the starbase than the transports are. Can you see any signs of combat damage? What about the evacuation lifeboats? Why are they not responding to your hails?"
Nate gave the engines a gentle boost and moved closer to the Alliance vessels for yet another pass. Since arriving, he'd expected to assess the entire area, but all his attention had been focussed on the dormant Alliance ships. With each metre he moved, the more confused he became. According to the computer, there were four of them, yet none of them was responding to his hails. He had flown past four times now, and the last had brought him to within ten kilometres. Captain Galanos forbade going in any closer in case of traps or hidden debris. Nate's arms were beginning to cramp even though he'd only been at this for little more than two hours.
"I'm passing the frigate now. The markings on her hull say she's ANS Cyclops, a Furious class ship. The computer identifies her as part of a joint border patrol unit with the Byotai."
Nate shook his head angrily as he read that. Until this violence had begun, the Alliance and the Byotai had been on good terms. The two had worked together in the war, and though different races, they seemed to share so much. The massed trade fleets of the Alliance had already established trade links with dozens of Byotai worlds. And now all of that was smashed by whatever insanity was ripping apart the ancient and noble race.
I don't understand it, none of it.
He blinked twice and then focussed on the frigate. The ship was very different in design to ANS Relentless, especially with her thin armour, more streamlined appearance, and sunken weapon mounts. If he didn't know any better, he'd think it was a hybrid ship based on the alien Helion designs. Nate found looking at these ships to be a mesmerising experience, and it took a great deal of effort to tear his eyes from the view.
"I see some light scoring to the hull, and a number of puncture points on the left flank."
He altered his course a fraction and neared the ship's rear quarter. At this range his flood lamps were able to pick out substantial amounts of detail. A gentle tap of the controls, and he spun about.
What is that?
One tap on the thrusters, and he moved even closer, his lamps penetrating deep into every crevice of the ship. Then he spotted it. At first it looked like little more than a shadow, but as he drifted further to the right, the shadow shifted, giving a perfect view into the hull. It was a crack, big enough to fly a ship inside.
"Sir. I have a major breach in the hull. Scanners show it penetrates through to the inner decks. I'm also detecting a major radiation spike."
The computer isolated the multiple sources and flagged them on his navigation orb. Nate examined them carefully while keeping an eye on the ship, as though it might spring to life at any moment.
"The computer shows multiple radiation sources throughout the hull. Most of the decks are irradiated."
He opened one of the hatches on the drone’s hull and launched a small probe. It was small, little bigger than a man's hand, and contained only a modicum of fuel for its ion thrusters.
"Deploying recon drone now."
The tiny device entered the breached hull and continued onwards in the innards of the ship. Its internal pulse scanner fired every five seconds, each burst penetrating the vessel and sending data back to Nate's computer. With each pulse, the picture of the ship became even clearer. After the first six, the fate of the ship was obvious.
"Probe confirms that Cyclops sustained multiple heavy external impacts that breached the hull. Impact areas indicate asteroid or rock ice strikes. I have at least eight penetrations, all containing rock ice that matches the material in this sector."
As he said the words, he tried to imagine what it would have been like as these objects struck the ship. At the same time, his eyes were drawn to the flashing beacon on his navigation orb. He'd assumed it would have been used to help the other ships find the rendezvous point, but it quickly became obvious it had another purpose.
"The beacon, Sir. It wasn't to tell the other ships where to go. It was a warning. A warning to avoid the same fate."
He moved his drone backwards to get a better view of the entire ship. With its powerplant off-line, it was little more than a derelict, like so many of the ghost ships that filled yards throughout the galaxy.
"Understood, Crusader Three. Continue your sweep and then come home. Crusaders Five and Six will take your place."
"Yes, Sir."
Nate passed on the next waypoints for the sweep to Billy, and then increased is forward velocity. Only then did he realise quite how long he'd been out there. His limbs were unaffected, but his mind and his back both ached.
That's the longest mission I've ever been on. The longest Star Crusader scenario was the Siege of Titan battle. And we were done in little over an hour. This is insane.
He shook his head and immediately felt a little wheezy. There was a marked disconnect between how he felt on board Relentless, and how he expected to feel inside the weightless environment of the Avenger drone fighter. Nate glanced to his right and checked Billy was at his wing. For a second he lost sight of his friend, but then the white diamond shape picked out the tiny object. The Avenger fighter looked menacing but incredibly small, whe
n compared to the monstrous shapes of the capital ships nearby. He might have been able to see Billy in the cockpit, but there was nothing of the sort in an unmanned fighter. There was a darker section that gave the impression of where a pilot might be, but that was a decision made for aesthetic reasons only.
What's that?
An icon appeared over the Byotai starbase that they had given only a cursory look at so far.
"What about the base?" Billy asked, "Maybe they left the ships and are down there. That, or the crew are still on the ship."
Nate nodded to himself. Although neither of them had said it, the meaning was clear. If the crew were not somewhere else, then they were on the ship, and dead. The very idea of the ship filled with bodies made Nate shudder.
"Good point."
He contacted Lieutenant Higgins directly.
"Sir. There is no sign of the crew out here. We..."
"Understood, Crusader Three. Perform another flypast and then return to base. In the meantime, we are preparing a survey drone for the base."
Nate paused, considering his answer. He felt he knew this small part of space quite well now. With their two fighters they had performed a full scan, as well as having personally examined the ships from every conceivable angle. There was still an area they had been told to avoid, and the longer they were out there, the more important it seemed to investigate.
"Sir, I request permission to run a close-range flyby of the starbase. It appears undamaged, and my sensors show fluctuating power levels deep inside its structure. Better to expose a problem now than leave it too late."
Star Crusader: Hero of the Alliance Page 20
