***
“You know, I always expect to see stars flashing past,” Rebecca said, as she stood under her stateroom porthole. “Not ...”
She waved a hand towards the darkness. It was dark in FTL, so dark that there were people who refused to look outside the ship or go EVA on the hull. Odyssey seemed to be all alone, even though there were three freighters following the cruiser and - no doubt - hundreds of alien warships in hot pursuit. There was something about the darkness that captured her eyes and drew her forward ...
“We are in a twist in the fabric of space and time,” Captain Yasser said. His voice was very composed. “Light vanishes somewhere within the FTL field.”
Rebecca nodded, blanking the porthole. “We’re taking a risk,” she said, as she turned to face him. “Do you think we’re doing the right thing?”
The captain looked back at her, evenly. “Do you see any other option?”
“... No,” Rebecca admitted. She’d thought about it ever since they’d fled Harmony, but nothing had come to mind. “There’s no way to escape destruction, is there? Not if we go back to Harmony.”
“They can't let us go home,” the captain agreed. He looked tired and grim, as if the burden of his role was wearing him down. “I don’t think they can even risk keeping us as prisoners.”
Rebecca shook her head, sourly. She’d spent years learning the rules of galactic diplomacy, a dance so complicated that few humans cared to master the steps. And yet, all the rules had changed. The Harmonies had broken the rules, just to gain a tactical advantage; now, they had to break more rules just to cover up their original crime. All her work had been for nothing.
“I feel useless,” she admitted. She nodded towards her desk. “I couldn't even find someone to negotiate with on Kami. Hundreds of enclaves, countless asteroid habitats ... each with their own governments! The planetary government is a joke! It makes the UN look like a masterpiece of international cooperation.”
“That actually suits us,” the captain pointed out, mildly. “A strong government might bow the knee to the Harmonies.”
“They might bow the knee anyway, when the Harmonies drop a battle squadron into the system to demand submission,” Rebecca said. Kami was heavily defended, but the system was disunited and the Harmonies were vastly more powerful. “We were thinking they planned to go on a rampage, weren't we?”
She started to pace. “I feel useless!”
“You did everything you could,” the captain said. “What happened ... none of it was your fault.”
“I wish I felt that way,” Rebecca said. “Captain ... my staff and I didn't pick up any sign that something was wrong.”
“Neither did mine,” the captain said. “Rebecca ... there’s no point in fretting over it. Right now, we have to figure out how best to escape before they catch up with us.”
Rebecca looked back at the porthole. “They can't yank us out of FTL, can they?”
“We don't know,” the captain said. “We could yank a ship out, if we wanted. Them? I’m not so sure. The Tokomak saw gravity well generators in action ... they should have passed on a warning, but it looks as though they didn't bother.”
He smiled, humourlessly. “And if I’m wrong,” he added, “I'd prefer not to find out the hard way.”
“Me neither,” Rebecca said. “But that doesn't stop me feeling useless.”
“Cheer up,” the captain assured her. “There will be something for you to do soon.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
The simplest answer to your question is that a defence in depth, one that allows us to trade space for time while delaying the enemy, will offer us the greatest chance of systematically defeating enemy probes and defeating enemy fleets. Right now, we have one system - Sol - which absolutely MUST be defended. We lose Sol ... game over. And while the Tokomak would pay dearly if they attacked Sol again, they have the firepower to win the battle.
The more systems we control, the more allies we have, the greater the challenge we present to the enemy.
-Solar Datanet, Political Forum (Grand Alliance Thoughts).
“Approaching the shipping lane, sir,” Marie said.
Elton nodded. If they were lucky, they should have enough time to drop out of FTL and hook Odyssey to the freighters before the enemy warships caught up with them. The enemy might be snapping at their heels, but they’d have some problems getting a precise lock on Odyssey before it was too late. Thankfully, the Harmonies didn't seem to have invented anything completely new.
If they figure out how to track starships in FTL while they're in FTL themselves, he thought, we may be in some trouble.
“Take us out of FTL,” he ordered. “Mr. Biscoe?”
“I’ll get the freighters hooked up,” Biscoe said. “Their drives are already synchronised.”
“Make sure the gravity waves are overlapping perfectly,” Elton reminded him. “If they don’t overlap, this is going to prove worse than useless.”
Odyssey shivered as she dropped out of FTL, the display lighting up as the ship’s passive sensors scanned for possible threats. Elton knew the odds were astronomically against the enemy deducing their destination and preparing an ambush, but he couldn't help tensing before the display finished updating. There were no ships - or anything else - within detection range.
“Picking up three enemy battle squadrons in FTL,” Callaway reported. “They’re heading in our direction, but they won’t have seen us drop out of FTL.”
“Good,” Elton said. There were enough enemy ships to allow half of them to remain in FTL, getting into position, while the remainder monitored Odyssey’s course and speed. His worst-case estimate insisted that the Harmonies would be on top of them in less than two hours. “And the shipping lane?”
“Very busy,” Callaway said, as a stream of blue icons appeared on the display. “We should merge with the flow.”
“Have the freighters secured to the hull,” Elton ordered. “Tactical?”
“Weapons and defences are fully charged,” Callaway said. “If they catch us, sir, we’ll give them a bloody nose.”
Elton pushed his doubts aside as he waited, patiently, for the engineers to finish connecting the freighters to Odyssey. It was a simple trick. Odyssey’s FTL signature was quite distinctive, allowing the enemy to track her in FTL, but the freighters were very similar to thousands of other designs used by just about every interstellar power. Their drive signatures were practically identical to every other mid-sized freighter in the galaxy. If Odyssey and her crew were lucky, the Harmonies wouldn't figure out what they’d done until Odyssey was already at Kami.
He forced himself to relax as the gravimetric sensors kept updating. The shipping lane wasn't really a lane, not in the sense a canal was a shipping lane, but there were still hundreds of starships passing through the same general region of space, the least-time course between Kami and Cereus. It felt odd to look at the display and compare the emptiness of realspace to the starships in FTL. He was an experienced spacer, yet even he flinched at the thought of a collision between two ships ...
Which is impossible, he thought, dryly. FTL drives don’t work that way.
“Two of the enemy battle squadrons just dropped out of FTL,” Callaway reported. “A third just jumped back into FTL.”
“Telling the first squadron where we are,” Elton said. He was fairly sure the watchers had a solid lock on Odyssey’s location. “How long will it take them to link up?”
“Seventeen minutes, I think,” Callaway said. “Force Two is a little further away from Force Three.”
“That won’t stop Force One from informing Force Two,” Elton said. “Watch for them detaching a ship.”
He sucked in his breath, resisting the urge to contact Biscoe and tell him to hurry. Having to jump back into FTL ahead of time would be disastrous. And yet, there was no need to panic just yet. He’d spent a lot of time wishing for an FTL communicator, like most spacers, but for once he was grateful that even the G
alactics hadn't been able to produce a working model. Force One would have to send a courier boat to Force Two. Thankfully, it was clear the Harmonies hadn't planned a search and destroy operation before Odyssey had escaped Harmony. If they had, they would have made sure that they had hundreds of courier boats on station.
His console bleeped. “Captain,” Biscoe said. “The freighters are linked up. Drive fields have been resynchronized, crews have returned to their ships. We are ready to go.”
Elton glanced at Marie’s back. “Helm?”
“I have control of their drives,” Marie said. “Gravimetric fields appear intact.”
“The enemy shouldn't be able to pick us out from the crowd,” Callaway added. “We’ll just be another freighter, perhaps a trifle older than the rest.”
The Harmonies would notice eventually, Elton was sure. They’d go back and study their sensor readings very carefully, once they decided that Odyssey wasn’t trying to wait them out. At that point, they’d notice a freighter with an oversized drive field and draw the correct conclusions. Trying to evade detection by using one ship to tow another had been old when the Trojan Horse had been pushed to the gates of Troy. But the deception would win them time. He just hoped it would be long enough.
“Take us back into FTL,” he ordered. “And set course for Kami.”
“Aye, Captain,” Marie said. “Interlocking drive field activating ... now!”
Odyssey shuddered. For an appalled moment, Elton thought they were under attack. The truth wasn't much better. The drive field, maintained by three stardrives working in combination, wasn't quite stable. Powerful enough to take them into FTL, but not powerful enough to ensure a smooth flight. The only upside, as far as he could tell, was that it provided an excuse for dropping out of FTL in interstellar space.
But they’ll know where we arrived, he thought, grimly. And they won’t think a crippled freighter leaving from the same location was a coincidence.
He cursed under his breath as the display blanked. We might have less time than we thought.
“The FTL field has stabilised,” Marie reported. “We should be at Kami within two days.”
“Understood,” Elton said. He looked up as Biscoe stepped onto the bridge. “How are the freighter crews taking it?”
“Not too well,” Biscoe said. “But they understand.”
Elton nodded. Freighter commanders, even ones with open-ended contacts with the Solar Union, enjoyed a degree of independence few others shared. They wouldn't be remotely comfortable with slaving their ships to Odyssey, let alone abandoning them at Kami. Elton would do everything in his power to ensure that the Solar Union paid compensation for the lost ships, but it wouldn't be the same. He was surprised one or more of the merchant skippers hadn’t demanded the right to leave the convoy and go his own way.
They’re not stupid, he told himself, sternly. They know what’s at stake.
“You have the bridge,” he said, rising. “Be ready to bring us out of FTL in a hurry if the drive field starts to collapse.”
“Yes, sir,” Biscoe said. “I have the bridge.”
***
Kami was an odd world, Levi thought, as the shuttle headed towards the planetary ring. Too inhospitable to attract one of the major powers, it had found itself playing host to hundreds of settlements of varying size from all over the galaxy. The ring itself was a teeming mass of disconnected principalities, while the planetside settlements and asteroid habitats jealously guarded their independence. There was a network of planetary defence stations orbiting the planet - and a surprising number of warships and armed freighters - but she doubted Kami had any hope of standing off any of the Galactics. The planetary government might claim to rule the system, yet it was clear that it had no real power.
Which works in our favour, she thought. No one asked questions when we arrived and requested a docking slip.
She smiled, thinly, as she glanced at the young man sitting next to her. Mickey Tyler had been born in the Solar Union, but - like her - he’d spent a surprising amount of time on alien worlds. His father had been a diplomat who’d held down a number of minor positions in a dozen embassies, the file so bland that Levi was sure it was a cover for something more sinister. She hadn't needed to see the embassy on Harmony to know that diplomatic missions were often covers for spies.
“This is your last chance to back out,” she said, as the shuttle headed towards the ring. “You can go back to the ship, if you like.”
Tyler shook his head. He was clearly nervous - she’d been careful to make it clear to him that she was in charge - but he hadn't changed his mind. Even running through a dozen simulations with Levi hadn't changed his mind, although she was forced to admit that their chances of blasting their way out were precisely nil. If they were discovered, and she knew it was quite likely that the Harmonies would be looking for humans, they were dead. Their suicide implants would see to that.
“Just remember, if anyone asks, you’re a free trader fallen on hard times,” Levi reminded him, dryly. “And don’t let them try to hire you.”
Tyler gave her a sharp look. “Wouldn't they be suspicious if I didn't at least listen?”
Levi shrugged, silently conceding that he had a point. There were probably hundreds of thousands of free traders - merchant crewmen, human and alien - on Kami, all looking for a billet on a starship heading out into deep space. Some of them would be in debt, some of them would probably be arrested if they reached a more civilised world ... she shook her head in wry annoyance. Screwing up the mission because they were offered a job would be embarrassing.
She activated her implants, contacting the ring’s datanet. It was a shambles, a nightmarish network of processors and servers that refused to work together. She’d seen the internet on Earth, but this was worse - far worse. Warnings blinked up in front of her eyes, alerting her to malware and processor viruses lurking within seemingly innocuous messages blasting out from a dozen different servers. She’d never seen anything quite so dangerous outside isolated worlds like Kami. Thankfully, her implants couldn't be overwritten and subverted by any malware known to exist.
“I think I have a possible contact,” she said, as she brought up a set of listings. “A couple of traders ... they’ll help fence the crap we brought.”
The XO turned to look at her. “Are you sure?”
“They’ll screw us like we’re a two-bit whore,” Levi said, frankly. She ignored the shocked look Tyler gave her. She’d heard worse during Boot Camp. “I doubt we’ll get even a fifth of what the trade goods are actually worth. But the money will be up front and untraceable.”
And we don’t have time to dicker, she added, silently. We need to complete the first part of the mission before the enemy fleet arrives.
The shuttle docked, the airlock mating effortlessly with its counterpart. Levi checked her weapons, then hurried out of the hatch as it opened. She’d expected a standard security sweep, but there was nothing beyond a stern notice warning that shuttles would be seized and confiscated if the docking fees were not paid. There were no lists of forbidden merchandise, no warning notices about customs duties ... she rather suspected that the only security checks would be done on the surface, if they went down to one of the enclaves. She had no intention of leaving the ring until they found a suitable freighter.
“This place is impressive,” Biscoe said. “Why don’t we have one of them.”
“They’re also pretty big targets,” Levi pointed out. “I’m surprised the planetary governments managed to cooperate long enough to build this ring.”
She downloaded a map from the nearest processor, then pointed down the corridor. “Let’s go,” she said. “Time is not on our side.”
The ring was impressive, she had to admit. It encircled the entire planet, providing more living space, storage chambers and docking ports than Kami could possibly use. Large sections had been colonised by transient workers, producing a dozen subgroups that were effectively enclaves in their own
right. There were no laws, she noted; a dozen adverts popped up in front of her, offering everything from slaves to interspecies brothels. And everyone within view was clearly armed. The richer ones were surrounded by augmented guards.
An armed society is a polite society, she thought. No one dares start anything because everyone else will start something too.
The fence was a plant-like alien, shifting backwards and forwards as if he was being pushed around by the wind. Levi tried to figure out how he saw - or even if he saw at all - while the XO tried to bargain, struggling to get the best possible price from the strange creature. It wasn't easy to communicate, either. The voder seemed to stutter more than once, as if it couldn't provide a proper translation. Levi just hoped that, for once, galactic society actually lived up to its billing.
“Twenty-two thousand credits,” the XO said, finally. “Is that enough?”
The Long Road Home (A Learning Experience Book 4) Page 24
