by Evan Currie
“We can’t contact three ships. They dropped off our network, and because everyone was distracted by the energy pulse, even the computers didn’t note the disappearance. Well, they noted the phenomenon, but it was logged as a temporary disconnection, My Lord. Yet they haven’t come back.”
“Secure from translight! Break formation. Be careful not to run into any more surprises,” Jesan ordered. “Find those ships!”
AEV Juraj Jánošík
“Scanning debris, Skipper,” Lieutenant Mika said, a hint of victory in her voice. “I believe we got one.”
Aleska leaned forward, though it was hardly necessary to see the displays. She couldn’t help it. She was as eager as her crew.
The hurtling debris was on-screen, hyperspectral analysis running. Apparently unencumbered by other forces, the debris was moving at significant fractions of c, the speed of light, but losing velocity. That was a sign of an artificially accelerated object crashing back through the light-speed barrier.
An object having been moved up to those speeds and then left there would continue, slowing only as minor collisions and the like siphoned off its kinetic energy. However, when an object crashed through the light-speed barrier, it brought residual inertia from its original state. Aleska didn’t know what that state was, but what she was seeing was enough confirmation for her.
They’d gotten one of the enemy, at the very least.
“Hyperspectral confirmation. It’s definitely Imperial armor plate.”
“Stay on passive scanners but watch for any sign of their core singularity,” Aleska ordered tensely.
The last thing any of them needed was to run anywhere close to a potentially stable singularity. Among other things, it was a particularly ugly way to die.
“Blue flash, Skipper! I think we’re seeing warp deceleration ahead of us!”
“Secure all transmissions. Check armor plate, then check it again!” she ordered instantly. “If they’re dropping from warp, that means we hit them. We do not want to tangle with a wounded tiger.”
Aleska rather thought that the comparison was, if anything, woefully underplayed.
Just that big bastard of a dreadnought alone had to qualify as a T. rex, so forget tigers. She didn’t want to deal with pissed off, wounded thunder lizards.
Lord’s Own Dreadnought, Empress Liann
The ship shuddered and dropped below light-speed, experiencing nothing like the shaking from earlier but still more than anticipated as the warp drive disposed of the lethal radiation and high-energy particulates from its forward warp.
Jesan watched two other vessels do much the same, and wondered yet again what they’d managed to run into.
“Have we located the missing ships?” he asked, frustrated by the entire mess.
“I believe we have, My Lord,” the scanner chief said after a moment’s hesitation.
Jesan closed his eyes. “I am not going to like this, am I? Very well, put it to the displays.”
“Yes, My Lord.”
The display shifted, and he found himself unsurprised to be looking at a massive debris field that was slowly expanding in space along their path.
“What in the abyss happened?” he growled.
“We’re still running the scanner data through conversions in order to determine that, My Lord. It is extremely computer intensive, as you’re aware.”
“Yes, I am,” he sighed. “Very well. Prioritize that, and tell me immediately when the results are complete. In the meantime, scan the debris to ensure that we’ve accounted for all the missing ships.”
“Yes, My Lord.”
Jesan was starting to feel like the entire sector was cursed. The Empire had experienced nothing but bad luck since embarking on the whole Drasin idiocy, but this was a new level of misfortune. Jesan could not remember the last time that the Empire had lost ships in mid-travel.
“Secure all stations. Every free hand is to look for any damage we incurred!”
“Yes, My Lord!”
AEV Juraj Jánošík
“That’s it, Skipper,” the officer standing watch at the scanning station said. “They’ve dropped from warp.”
“Kill our drives, ballistic approach only. Maintain secure transmissions and black-hole armor settings,” Aleska ordered firmly. “Passive scans only.”
“Aye aye, ma’am. Passive scans only.”
The Jánošík was several light-minutes away from the alien vessels. They’d blown through the ambush site at better than a hundred times light-speed, and several seconds had passed before they apparently noticed anything. That was still more than close enough for the Jánošík to be under threat if noticed, though Aleska was reasonably certain that she could turn tail and get her ship and crew out of the area before the enemy could be upon them.
“Active scans, ma’am.”
“Hold course, no changes,” she ordered, her voice pitching low as though there were a chance of the enemy hearing her. “They’re just looking for debris, maybe for whatever caused it. At this range we’re well below the detection threshold of their standard scans.”
“Aye ma’am . . . And if they spike?”
“If the scans spike past detection thresholds, tell me. Don’t hesitate.”
“Aye ma’am.”
The Jánošík continued on through space, running entirely on inertial energy as they approached the enemy forces that had begun deceleration operations. The signals were now entirely under the light-speed threshold, which made it easier for the crew and computer to keep track of them.
“Lord, their formation is a mess,” Jurgen whispered from the scanner station.
That was, if anything, something of an understatement from what Aleska could tell.
“They were just given a rather nasty shock,” she said. “However, I like to believe that we would maintain better force discipline in a similar situation. It may be that they ordered a spread formation specifically because they haven’t identified what they hit.”
That seemed likely to her, but the ragged formation told her a lot just the same. For a people who seemed to pride themselves in rigid discipline, to the point of sacrificing themselves or their own if things went badly enough, the Imperials clearly had issues coping with surprises.
That could be used against them, assuming that she and her colleagues could continue to find ways to surprise the Empire.
Lord’s Own Dreadnought, Empress Liann
“By the stinking, flaming, abyssal pit,” Jesan swore as he looked at the computer-decoded scanner records.
The imagery of the ships being destroyed looked rather familiar, with the formation of a singularity point that was unfortunately considerably sped up due to the effects of the warp bubble at higher universal velocities. The merging of the event horizon with the bow of each ship progressed in similar fashion as before, as did the utterly destructive explosions that followed.
“My Lord . . .” His second swallowed. “How did they do this?”
Jesan hissed, annoyed. “Presumably they have more ships than we previous believed. Our course has been predictable; that must change.”
He paused, scowling. “All vessels are to actively scan the area immediately. They may have a ship or ships in the area.”
“Yes, My Lord!” The scanner chief sent out the order over the command dreadnought’s channel, and then proceeded to follow it.
Jesan shook his head, eyeing the replays with disgust as he observed the destruction play out again. Twice now the enemy had managed to get the better of him simply by virtue of his own ignorant assumptions.
The profile I was given on this sector is as incomplete as the navarch warned it might be. I expected it to be wrong in places, but I honestly thought that the analysts were more right than wrong. Serves me right, I suppose.
What he was going to do about it, however, was the question at the moment.
“Contact, My Lord!”
AEV Juraj Jánošík
“Whoa! That spiked over the d
etection threshold for sure, Skipper!”
“All power to reverse engines!” Aleska ordered instantly, giving up any attempt at stealth.
First, she wanted to properly clear her vessel from any threat of immediate contact, but next she quickly checked the range to the enemy and the clock.
“Almost a full AU out,” she mumbled. “Start a clock! Seven minutes and counting.”
“Clock rolling, aye ma’am!” her first officer responded instantly, a large countdown showing up on multiple screens around the bridge.
“What are they doing?” she wondered aloud.
The problem was that an FTL Pulse gave them an instant snapshot of the point in time when the enemy had detected them, just as it had given the enemy a similar image. What happened immediately after that snapshot, however, was light-speed limited unless they or she opted to paint the black with tachyons again.
She assumed that they were shifting to an attack formation, whether they intended to pursue her or not. The Imperials had to believe that there was at least a chance she wasn’t alone out here, and they might be looking at a stealthed ambush group.
“Break port, thirty degrees,” Aleska ordered. “Deploy sensor drone in our current position.”
“Port thirty, aye Skipper!” the helmsman called even as her first officer launched the sensor drone and nodded back at her.
“Chances are they will not follow, but we will maneuver as though they are giving pursuit,” Aleska ordered. “Sweep our bow about down to the galactic plane by twenty degrees. Engage warps at flank.”
The Jánošík twisted in space, putting her nose down to the galactic plane as her drives fired up to full power.
Aleska laughed suddenly. “Let us do what the commodore likely would. Fly our colors.”
“Skipper?” Her first officer twisted to look at her, surprised.
“We’re getting out of here, Commander. Go ahead, send them a salute.”
“Aye aye, Skipper. Flying our colors.”
Lord’s Own Dreadnought, Empress Liann
“Arrogant sorts, aren’t they?” Jesan asked with a biting smile.
“Yes, My Lord,” his second answered.
They watched the small enemy vessel on the light-speed scanners as it accelerated away from the fleet at a velocity well beyond their ability to overtake, given that they were still moving at significant speed away from the enemy course.
The flashing of their hull colors seemed a bit of a snub, but he remembered the navarch’s report, and wasn’t certain it was entirely intended that way.
The red and white flashes were of distinct periods and frequencies, leading him to believe that it was also something of an identifier and, perhaps, a military recognition.
Jesan continued watching until the ship went to black again, vanishing against the dark of space as its drive signature also faded. They could likely track the vessel if they truly wanted to, given that maneuvering with minimal drive signatures would be limiting, but he didn’t see the point.
“One ship is not enough of a concern for us to bother with now,” he decided. “However, I believe we will change our course. Show me the systems we have on file for the Oather sector.”
“Of course, My Lord.”
He would pick a new course and see how well the enemy would be able to react to that change. Such a strategy would likely offer a better image of their available fleet than previous incursions had, since there was obviously missing information of some sort.
“And pick up heavier scanning ahead!” he growled. “Look for any more of those damned weapons!”
AEV Juraj Jánošík
“They’re moving on, Skipper. Didn’t even take a potshot at us.”
“Apparently not, Commander,” Aleska noted. “Not surprising, I suppose. They are changing course, however.”
The commander nodded, eyes on the telemetry plot.
“We’ll scan until they settle into their new trajectory, then transition out to rendezvous with the squadron,” Aleska decided.
There wasn’t much more they could do now, really. Just figure out where the enemy was going, and then proceed to give them a nightmare by beating them to the destination. She didn’t know just how long they’d be able to keep up the secret of transition drive technology, but while it lasted the Imperials were going to be driven absolutely nuts.
“Yes ma’am.”
CHAPTER 21
Open Space
“I think I’m in love!”
Stephanos hammered the throttle all the way forward, not even feeling the slightest acceleration as his modified fighter formed a powerful warp bubble and leapt to respond. He had to check the readouts on his HUD just to be sure he was moving, and he was . . . and how.
“Easy on the power, Stephan,” Milla said from behind him. “I am observing the conduits to see if there are any fluctuations we might have to be concerned with.”
“See anything?” he asked, backing off the throttle a bit.
“Not as of yet, no.”
“Then we’re gold.” Steph laughed, pushing to the max again and twisting the fighter through space in a complex set of maneuvers that would have torn his old Archangel to shards.
A flash of blue startled him a moment later, however, causing Steph to ease back again.
“What the hell was that?”
“That was us breaking the superluminal barrier,” Milla said. “Some of the light from our warp bubble escapes around the edges of the gravity well, as we do not use a singularity to achieve full warp. That light briefly exceeds light-speed in the galactic medium beyond our warp, which causes a flash of what you call Cerenkov blue.”
Steph looked around. “We’re moving faster than light now?”
“We are, and I would appreciate it if you dropped us below light-speed, please. I would rather not become a flash of Cerenkov blue, which is what will happen if the warp field fails catastrophically while we are in superluminal.”
Steph eased off the throttle, blinking as he saw the flash of blue again. “Right. Sorry about that.”
Milla didn’t respond immediately, as she was working on the diagnostics of her system.
“It is of no concern,” she said after a moment. “All systems appear to be functioning correctly. We are ready for phase two.”
“Roger that.” Steph flipped the fighter around and headed back toward the Odysseus. “Odysseus Actual, Archangel Actual.”
“Go for Odysseus, Archangel,” Eric’s voice came back a few seconds later.
“We’ve just completed preliminary flight checks. My RIO advises that we are ready for phase two,” Steph said.
“Roger, Archangel Actual. Launching drone squadron.”
“Standing by to receive, Odysseus Actual.”
As the fighter approached the gleaming Heroic cruiser, a tiny cluster of drones showed up on its scanners as they launched from the bigger ship. The drone squadron arched in their direction in a perfect flight formation. Steph easily brought his fighter around and dropped into the open position.
“Archangel Actual, Odysseus. The squadron is yours.”
“Roger, Odysseus, squadron is mine,” Steph said, taking command of the half-dozen drones around him. The lights shifted from blue to green on his HUD, and he noted the increase in both scanner density he had instant access to as well as the weapon loadout that was now awaiting his authorization. “Hey, Milla, these things aren’t actually armed yet, right?”
“That is correct,” Milla said. “There’s no reason to fly with live antimatter at this time.”
“Good. I didn’t need that responsibility just now. Okay, let’s start with a little follow-the-leader.”
He slaved the drones into his controls, telling them to match his movements, and began some basic maneuvers. The drones started off well, sticking to him like they were glued to his path. He kept pushing the envelope a little farther with each maneuver, but the drones had no problems staying with him.
Steph briefly co
nsidered running some complex evasion patterns, but those weren’t really in the mission priorities for the drones at the moment, and there was no point in getting the things destroyed before they saw action. Part of the reason they existed was because of a crying need for the platforms, after all.
He was about to move to the next phase of testing when a proximity alarm sounded.
“Archangel Actual, Excalibur Actual.”
Steph twisted, letting his HUD guide him to where the Vorpal squadron had approached from his nine o’clock low, slotting into a parallel course.
“Commander,” Steph responded, “good to see you made it. Ready for a little fun with the Empire?”
“Anytime, Commander,” Alexandra Black greeted him in return, easing her fighter in close enough that he could see the black and mirrored visor covering her face as she swept her gaze along his fighter. “Good God, what did you do to that thing? You don’t get to call Vorpals ugly anymore, just so you know.”
Steph laughed, pushing the throttle all the way forward again. The flash of Cerenkov blue swept over him and the drones as he easily pulled out past the Vorpals and circled around to approach them from their three o’clock high, dropping his speed again.
“And you don’t get to call the Double A platform slow.”
“Holy hell, Commander, what did you do to that thing?” Black demanded. “Our scanners lost you during that maneuver.”
“That’s what happens when your target goes FTL, Commander Black.”
“Great. Do it again so I can test our new missiles,” she threatened him with an amused tone. “But seriously, I’m game for pimping this ride if you have any more of those laying around.”
“It is an off-the-shelf part, as you say, Commander,” Milla said, not looking up from where she was analyzing the drone’s path following responses. “There are plenty more available. Send a request to the commodore, and he will be able to direct it to appropriate channels.”
“You have someone in there with you, Stephanos?” Black asked, puzzled. “I thought those birds were single-seaters.”
